Lan Su Chinese Garden
— — a Suzhou courtyard set down in a Pacific city.
Not only on a wall.
“A walled Suzhou-style scholar's garden occupying a full block of Portland's Old Town, built in 2000 in partnership with the sister city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. Sixty-five Chinese craftsmen lived in Portland for the year of construction. Inside the wall: a central pond, covered walkways, scholar rocks barged from Lake Tai, and a teahouse on the upper floor of the Tower of Cosmic Reflections. The street stays outside. The garden keeps its own weather. from the studio
Lan Su Chinese Garden, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Lan Su Chinese Garden occupies a full city block in Portland's Old Town Chinatown, bounded by NW Everett, NW Flanders, NW 3rd, and NW 4th. The garden was built in partnership with the city of Suzhou, Portland's sister city in Jiangsu Province, China, and opened to the public in 2000 under the original name Portland Classical Chinese Garden. About 65 craftsmen from Suzhou lived in Portland for the year of construction and worked from traditional plans, using materials shipped from China including roof tiles, latticework, and the scholar rocks from Lake Tai. The garden was renamed Lan Su in 2010, combining a syllable from each city's name.
The garden follows the Ming-dynasty scholar-garden tradition of Suzhou, which uses four primary elements: water, stone, plants, and architecture. The central pond, called Lake Zither, is bordered by covered walkways and crossed by stepping stones and a moon-window bridge. The scholar rocks, weathered limestone known as taihu rocks, were quarried from Lake Tai outside Suzhou and chosen for their holes and folds. More than 100 species of plants grow inside the walls, many propagated from cuttings of Suzhou originals. The Tower of Cosmic Reflections on the north side houses a working teahouse on its upper floor.
The garden is open year-round, generally 10:00 to 17:00 with seasonal extensions, and charges admission that supports operations and programming. It is privately operated by the nonprofit Lan Su Chinese Garden organisation, not by Portland Parks. The Tao of Tea operates the teahouse in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections and serves Chinese teas, light food, and steamed buns. Cultural programming runs throughout the year: Chinese New Year in late January or February, mid-autumn moon festival in September, and a winter solstice lighting that drapes the walkways in lanterns. Photography is allowed; tripods and commercial shoots are not.