Chinese Garden

Outdoor garden

Onglets

Description

A place of contrast and harmony, the Chinese Garden illustrates the age-old principles of the Chinese art of landscape design. The layout, the pavilions’ architecture, the water, and the selection of plants and minerals are all expressions of the dominant design principles of yin and yang. The design elements are laden with great metaphorical meaning; shapes and masses are used to achieve contrast and arouse emotion.

The harmony of the garden is based on four main elements: plants, water, stones and architecture. It presents itself as a three-dimensional painting, a reproduction of nature that is both faithful and transposed.

Created

1990

Area

2.5 hectares

Taxa

542

For more information

Chinese Garden

Lotus Collection

Map

- Dream Lake
- Friendship Hall
- Springtime Courtyard
1. Dream Lake
1. Friendship Hall
1. Springtime Courtyard

Explore

The Garden features seven classical structures inspired by the Ming Dynasty: the Entrance Courtyard, the Friendship Hall, the Springtime Courtyard, the Green Shade Pavilion, the Tower of Condensing Clouds and the Stone Boat. These graceful, elegant structures have all the finesse of traditional Chinese architecture.

The Dream Lake of the Chinese Garden features a small lake (60 m by 40 m) with bridges crossing over it.

The Chinese Garden is home to more than 250 species of plants, many of which are native to China.

History

The Chinese Garden is the culmination of close ties established between the parks department of the city of Shanghai and the Montréal Botanical Garden. Thousands of pieces needed to build it were shipped from Shanghai to Montréal in 120 containers. In 1990, 50 Chinese artisans assembled them to create this magnificent garden.

The Dream Lake Garden is the work of Le Weizhong, a renowned architect and landscaper, who, at the time the garden was built, was the director of the Shanghai Institute of Landscape Design and Architecture.

Did you know?

Architecture

The roof of the Friendship Hall is adorned with traditional Chinese creatures, including the dragon, lion and phoenix.

The Stone Boat is reminiscent of the marble boat built at the Summer Palace in Beijing for the Empress Cixi of the Qing Dynasty.

Plants

The Botanical Garden’s collection of penjing includes many miniature trees donated by the city of Shanghai during the Floralies internationales de Montréal flower show in 1980.

The magnolia is the city of Shanghai’s official flower.

The bark and roots of the tree peony are using in making medicine.

Landscaping

More than 3,000 tonnes of orange-brown stones were needed to build the nine-metre hill at Dream Lake Garden.

The grey rocks all over the garden come from Tai Lake in China: 500 tonnes were imported for the landscape design.

Best time to visit

May to October

Please note: Gardens of Light event takes place from the beginning of September to the end of October.

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Chinese Garden

Chinese Garden

Onglets

Created

Area

Taxa

For more information

History

Did you know?

Architecture

Plants

Landscaping

Best time to visit