For nearly 20 years, a small group of Seattleites have been toiling to build a Sichuan-style garden in their city. And with craftsmen from Chongqing, rocks from Lake Tai, in the Yangtze River Delta, and peonies from Luoyang, Henan province, it is finally coming together.
This labour of love began as the United States west coast city reached across the Pacific to build ties with China. In 1979, one of the first non-government trade associations focused on China was founded here. When Chongqing and Seattle became sister cities, in 1983, horticulturist Phil Wood started pondering how this rapport should be represented.
"We figured a garden would be a good way to do it," says Wood, who has adopted a daughter from China and served as board president for the Seattle Chinese Garden.
After securing a 1.8-hectare plot on a college campus, Wood and others launched a fundraising campaign for the construction of a pavilion. In addition to the needed cash, more eclectic donations came their way.
Huge rocks from Lake Tai were shipped in from Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, pro bono by someone who was then a port commissioner. Scholars' rocks are a signature landscape feature in most traditional Chinese gardens. A bronze carp sculpture, hand-cast in the early 20th century as a tribute to a Chinese general, was shipped in from Thailand.
The Chongqing city government was also eager to lend a hand - or 42, to be precise: attached to 21 skilled craftsmen. In 2010, the Sichuanese crew built the Knowing the Spring Courtyard, with tile-crowned walls, latticework windows and black pebble mosaic flooring, under the supervision of Chu Yangming, an art historian who now lives in Beijing. For the courtyard's opening ceremony, a fire-department permit was approved and firecrackers were let off on an auspicious day last August.
And a garden wouldn't be complete without flowers. The board struck gold when Jiang Yiqiao, a native of the peony's famous home, Luoyang, came forth from a Seattle suburb. The son of a painter of peonies, he ensured his adopted hometown would get native plants.
In late 2012, 232 Luoyang tree and shrub peonies of more than 19 varieties were jetted into Seattle. A month ago, the garden hosted its second annual peony festival.
Fundraising continues apace to fully realise the garden's plans, which include a 23-metre-tall pagoda, a teahouse on a lotus pond and two more pavilions.
"Hopefully, our increasing relationship with China will lead to more interest in supporting this garden," says Wood.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Blossoming relationship
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