A Walking Tour - St. Louis Chinese Garden

One enters the Chinese garden through the traditional [Moon Gate].  The
moon is a symbol of perfection; the circular opening frames the 
view of the garden beyond and reinforces the sense that one is stepping
into a special place.  To the right is a group of vertical stones 
symbolizing a bamboo grove.  The tiles along the wall carry the Missouri 
Botanical Garden logo. The curving path is embellished with designs 
created with colored pebbles imported from China. Where the path divides,
a yin/yang symbol appears in the pavement, juxtaposed with a monumental
T'ai Hu stone at the edge of the pool.  To the right, a white marble
balustrade extends over the water.  The pavement is decorated with a
circular emblem of the phoenix, symbol of the empress. 

The central pool is irregular in shape, with Missouri stones set around
the edge to suggest the shoreline of a larger lake.  It is important for
water to seem natural, with a source and an outflow; here the water flows
down a rocky streambed that suggests a mountain gorge, then beneath a
bridge and into the pool, where it seems to disappear beneath the
overlook.  The white marble bridge, with its circular moon shape completed
by its reflection in the water, was a gift from the city of Nanjing.

The hexagonal wooden pavilion, also a gift from Nanjing, stands at the 
edge of the pool.  Our garden is modelled on the "scholars' gardens" of 
the southern provinces near Nanjing, which are smaller and less ornate 
than the Imperial gardens of the north.   Pavilions in the private gardens 
of gentlemen and scholars were used not only as retreats for study and
contemplation, but as places for pleasant social gathering and poetry
contests.  The structure is fitted together like a Chinese puzzle, with
carvings representing bamboo, mountains, and the phoenix of the empress.
The great tile roof with its traditional swooping lines seems to echo the
"smiling curves" of the tree branches behind it; it seems to float,
lightly suspended from its lotus final despite its great mass.

Behind the pavilion is an undulating wall pierced with decorative latticed 
windows, the "eyes" of the garden.  Along a second wall is a stone mural
carved in bas-relief with a view of contemporary Nanjing.  The great
wooden exit gate is intricately carved with lotus flower motifs and paved
with an exquisite pebble design of cranes, symbols of longevity.
Traditional plantings include pines, bamboo, and willows.  Many ornamental
species familiar to Western gardeners, such as rhododendrons, peonies, and
camellias, originated in China, which has the world's largest temperate
flora.

No scholar's garden would be complete without inscriptions of poems in 
traditional calligraphy.  On the wall beside the gate is a stone tablet 
inscribed with a poem by [Pu Jie], brother of the last Chinese emperor,
[Pu Yi]:
          
        "Sitting alone in a secluded bamboo grove,  
        I was singing while playing the qin, (Chinese stringed  instrument)
        Before realizing, in the deep grove,  
        The moon had already joined me with her beautiful light."

(Translation by Dr. Guanghua Zhu from the Garden.)

For more detail see "A Fairy Landscape Unlike Any on Earth" Missouri 
Botanical Garden Bulletin, Sept./Oct. 1995, p. 4-7

(Chinese American Forum, the 67th issue, January 2002.)