After five months of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino opened outdoor areas of its expanded Chinese Garden on Friday..
Visitors will be treated to nearly 12 new acres of landscape, pavilions, and other features in Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. The Huntington has recently completed the last phase of the Garden’s expansion, from its initial 3.5 acres to 15 acres, becoming one of the largest classical-style Chinese gardens in the world.
The complex includes the central garden, as well as an extensive bamboo grove on the garden’s western edge, to be completed in the next few months, and a conifer forest to the north.
“We are delighted to be able to welcome visitors to explore these exquisite new features that further demonstrate the beauty and depth of Chinese cultural and landscape gardening traditions,” Karen R. Lawrence, president of The Huntington, said in a statement. “The debut of these new sections of the Chinese Garden coincides with the conclusion of The Huntington’s yearlong Centennial Celebration, and symbolically opens a new chapter in the institution’s history.”
New outdoor features of the Chinese Garden include The Stargazing Tower, situated on the highest point in the garden at the southern end of the lake. The 527 square-foot pavilion provides stunning views of the landscape, the distant mountains, and the universe beyond. The name pays homage to the Mount Wilson Observatory, which is visible from the tower.
The Verdant Microcosm is a 17,900 square-foot area on the western slope that’s designed for the study, creation, and display of “penjing,” or miniature potted landscapes, similar to Japanese bonsai. A complex of walled courtyards showcases dozens of examples of the penjing art form, as well as distinctive scholar’s rocks.
Shaded by mature California oaks near a gently flowing stream is the “Reflections in the Stream and Fragrance of Orchids” Pavilion, a place to pause, meditate, and be poetically inspired. The name recalls the legendary gathering of poets at the Orchid Pavilion in Shaoxing in 353, immortalized by the great calligrapher Wang Xizhi, who wrote the preface to the collected poems.
The Courtyard of Assembled Worthies, with its intricate pebble mosaics, links the existing Clear and Transcendent pavilion on the north side of the lake with the new exhibition complex. Together, these features will serve as a center for future cultural programming.
Indoor spaces within the expanded section will open later, the statement said. These include a new art gallery and a traditional scholar’s studio, as well as a casual restaurant. The inaugural exhibition in the art gallery, “A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan,” is set to open in May 2021.
“Together we have created a world-class attraction that not only celebrates historical landscape traditions but also embodies the contemporary ideals of international cooperation and cross-cultural exchange,” James Folsom, the Telleen/Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens, added.
Timed entry tickets are required for The Huntington as a whole, and visitors must comply with all mandated safety requirements, including a pre-entry symptom check, wearing face coverings, and maintaining physical distancing while on the property.
To purchase tickets, visit www.huntington.org.
Cultural programming slated to coincide with the opening will include a virtual screening of the video “Fragrant Rhythms: The Seasons of Liu Fan Yuan” by artist Tang Qingnian, on Sunday, October 11, at 4 p.m. The video was produced during Tang’s residency as the Cheng Family Visiting Artist in 2019. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the artist and soundtrack musicians Wu Man (who composed the score) on the pipa (lute) and Kojiro Umezaki on the shakuhachi (bamboo flute). Presented on the Zoom video-conferencing platform, the screening is free with reservations. To reserve, visit www.huntington.org/calendar.
Online lectures related to the opening include “The Past and Future of The Huntington’s Asian Gardens” by James Folsom, the Telleen/Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens, on Thursday, October 29, at 4 p.m. Reservations can be made for free at www.huntington.org/calendar.
In addition, a special display of orchids throughout the Chinese Garden will celebrate the debut of the expanded features. Many of the flowers will be drawn from The Huntington’s own extensive orchid collections, supplemented by blooms from local orchid societies and commercial exhibitors. The display is tentatively scheduled for October 16 to 18.
An updated audio tour, including all the garden’s new features, can be downloaded at www.huntington.org/chinese-
