Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

    This place was very awesome.  It was oddly quiet and very serene very Zen like (grin)..and in the middle of Vancouver.  Every nook and cranny had it's own beauty, and the air was still.  I loved it here was kind of like hanging out at home, sitting in amost the plants, near water, having a good book, a glass of wine and I was in heaven.  Ahhhhh....I love all of it.

So a little bit about Sun Yet-sen

Born November 12th, 1866 in Guangdong province.
1879 He studies medicine in Hawaii.
1895 Leads first insurrection against the Qing dynasty
1905 Develops "Three Principles of the People".
1911 Qing dynasty is overthrown.
1913 Kuomintang. the party he founded, wins national election but is soon expelled from parliament.
1925 Dies March 12th, in Beijing.

Recognized by Chinese everywhere as their country's modern founder, the physician-turned-nationalist failed in his dream of unification.
In the turbulent and tangled history of modern China, Sun Yet-sen holds a unique place.  Claimed as a personal inspiration and political guide by the most bitterly opposed political parties, he is known to millions as "the Father of the Chinese Revolution." Yet his own life ws a constant scramble for livelihood and infulence, he spent much of his time in exile, and almost none of his cherished schemes came near fruition.  The twin strands of inspiration and failure define the relationship between his life and the history of his country.

The Dr.

Sun Yet-sen Garden.

Dr. Sun Yet-sen the "father of modern China", whose Koumintang league overthrew the "last Chinese emperor", only to have the communists force his successor, Chiang Kai-shek, from the mainland to the island of Taiwan.  Dr. Sun spent most of 1906 fundraising in Vancouver Chinatown.  (B.S. Sun, they used to call him, one old timer told me).

The garden, inside the inner courtyard, is modelled after fifteenth-century gardens in Suzhou, "the Garden City of China", and is the first full-scale Chinese classical garden ever created outside China, and the first built anywhere in the last 500 years.  (the fact that it is scrupulously modelled on a Ming Dynasty garden, and named after the fellow who overthrew the dynasties, is perhaps, an unconscious irony).   It ws built by imported Chinese artisans, using traditional tools and authentic materials.  Even the "moon rocks" came from China, and special permission was granted to cut and import "naum" wood, almost extinct now, but necessary to the gardens authenticity.
Such authenticity is very expensive.  The garden's $5.3 million cost was met by funding from: the city, the province, the Feds, the Province of Jiangsu, the city of Suzhou, and private sector benefactors, particularly the Lieutenant Governor, David Lam.

This garden was built in 1985-1986 using the time honored principles and techniques of the original Ming dynesty garden.  Fifty-two master craftsmen from Suzhou China, working with Canadian counterparts, completed this landscape masterpiece within a year.  The intricate halls and walkways are constructed with precise joinery and without the use of nails, screws, or glue.  Pretty Amazing!!!

It is an awesome sight to see...
Enjoy the wee tour!!!!