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The U.S. National Arboretum (USNA) is a U.S. Department of Agriculture research and education facility for ornamental trees, shrubs, and floral plants. It is a national center that welcomes visitors in a stimulating and aesthetically pleasing environment. Visitors can explore the vast 446-acre landscape throughout all seasons. The USNA is home to a series of world-class display gardens and collections including Asian Collections, Azalea Collections, the National Herb Garden, and the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum. The next major addition to the USNA will be a Classical Chinese Garden. [Check out the story of the signing of the agreement here]. The Classical Chinese Garden is an original design developed by a joint team of designers from the People’s Republic of China and the United States. This 12-acre garden brings a unique cultural experience to the USNA that will provide an in-depth exploration of the elements that create a Chinese garden. Contributions to the Classical Chinese Garden at the USNA are tax-deductible. China’s rich flora and long history of garden development has had a profound influence on horticulture and garden design throughout the world. Chinese classical gardens represent a harmonious blending of man and nature. The careful balance and blending of man-made structures, stones and rockeries, plants, water, and art results in a beautiful place for people to enjoy, learn, and rest. The Classical Chinese Garden at the U. S. National Arboretum will be the finest example of a classical Chinese garden in the United States due to several factors. It will be an originally designed garden located in an idyllic setting just two miles from the Capitol of the United States. This garden takes the best features of several well known gardens in the famous Chinese garden cities of Zhangzhou, Shuzhou, and Hangzhou and incorporates them in an original design.The garden will provide an opportunity for visitors, nationally and internationally, to see and experience a true classical Chinese garden and learn about the culture of China. This will be a setting for people to learn about Chinese culture and its traditional arts and crafts of China. It will be a key location for important meetings and special events for high-ranking officials, the business community, and organizations. At the same time, it will be used to support the Arboretum’s research programs in the development of new and improved ornamental and floral plants. The Classical Chinese Garden at theU.S. National Arboretum is a joint project between the governments of the United States and China. Professor Peng Zhenhua, well-known and respected garden designer at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, heads the Chinese design team. The Chinese team is working closely with their American counterparts headed by U. S. National Arboretum Director, Dr. Thomas S. Elias. Together they are developing a concept for an outstanding Chinese garden that will be unmatched in the Western World. The U. S. will provide the land, site work, utilities, and plant materials for the project. The Chinese government will provide the structures, furnishing, and labor to construct the garden. An 8-acre site located in the heart of the 446-acre USNA has been selected to provide a setting for the Chinese Garden that will never be compromised by surrounding high-rise buildings or other man-made structures. A mature pine forest provides an idea backdrop high on a sloping hillside for the upper segments of the Chinese garden. The lower part of this setting will feature a small lake and the main complex of buildings. The Chinese Garden is located adjacent to a mature dawn redwood grove and the Arboretum’s extensive collection of Asian plants. Visitors will enjoy walking through the three main components of the Classical Chinese Garden. The first component will be on the right side after the entrance. This enclosed area will include a small pond and traditional Chinese buildings with Ming- and Ching-style hardwood furniture, calligraphy and painting scrolls on the walls. Adjacent to this building will be a traditional boat house located on a 1.3-acre lake. The second component will be located further down the path on the left side. This enclosed area of the garden will include a two-story teahouse and an exhibit hall where visitors may taste authentic Chinese tea and enjoy skillful demonstrations of art work including painting and calligraphy. Rockeries representing each of the four seasons will also be included in this component. Moving down the path, visitors will enter a traditional long corridor that will take them over the lake and into the third and largest component of the garden. This component houses a series of pavilions designed to highlight the natural beauty and magnificent views of the entire garden. Visitors will appreciate the large display of tree peonies at the Peony Pavilion. The pathway will be lined with willows as visitors walk to the Fragrance Pavilion, where they can rest and enjoy viewing authentic Chinese goldfish. On their way to an astonishing view of the entire garden in the Whispering Pavilion, visitors will pass a traditional Chinese White Pagoda. From there visitors can follow the path to the Five Pavilions for another extraordinary view of the garden. -- Click here for the story
on the signing of the agreement.
Contributions to the Classical Chinese Garden at the USNA are tax-deductible.We currently have two separate donation programs:
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Last Updated May 22, 2007 4:48 PM
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