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PORTLAND CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Mission 2
Portlands Garden - Lan Su Yuan 7
Garden as Museum 12
Learning in the Garden 13
Cultural activities in the Garden 15
Facilities 17
Funding 19
History 24
Horticulture 26
Leadership 27
Marketing & Communications 28
Neighborhood & Chinese community 30
Political advocacy & public unding 31
School groups and curriculum 32
Suzhou and Sister-City Relationship 33
Volunteers 34
10th Anniversary 35
Glossary o erms 36
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Introduction
Welcome to Lan Su Yuan. Lan Su Yuan is the Gardens Chi-
nese name. Tis name is translated as the Garden o the
Awakening Orchid. Te orchid is a symbol or the amily who
would have built and lived in this Garden. Teir awakening
took the orm o aspiring and persevering towards becoming
upright Conucians in their public lie and wise aoists orBuddhists in their private lie. oday, all o us who enjoy this
Garden stand in the place o that amily and our journey is
also an awakening process, towards understanding and appre-
ciation o Chinas rich history.
We enter the entire culture o China through the moon gate o
the garden. In that privileged spot all the elements o Chinese cul-
ture meet. Edwin . Morris, Te Gardens o China. Above
our Gardens moon gate, these words are inscribed, Enter the
wonderland. We invite you to join us in the journey into theendless delights o this wonderland.
Cynthia Johnson Haruyama
Executive Director
April 2009
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Mission
Te mission o the Portland Classical Chinese Gardenis
to cultivate an oasis o tranquil beauty and harmony
and to inspire, engage, and educate our global
community in an appreciation o a richly authentic
Chinese culture.
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A garden built or pleasure is a universal art orm
ound throughout cultures and throughout his-
tory. Yet each culture produces a dierent orm
o pleasure garden reecting its worldview and
values. As one o the worlds richest and lon-
gest continuous cultures,it is not surprising that
China has produced a
unique aesthetic or its
pleasure gardens. Tis
aesthetic has roots over
2,500 years old and is
largely China-centric
with little inuence
rom outside cultures.
Within Chinese culture,the pleasure garden tra-
dition or private amily
compounds o the city
o Suzhou during the
Ming and Qing dynas-
ties (1364 1912) is viewed as a high moment
or this art orm. oday, the city o Suzhou has
about sixty o these gardens remaining and eight
o them are designated as UNESCO world heri-tage sites. Ater the many upheavals o the 20th
century, many o these gardens are in less than
ideal condition. Yet the traditions that created
and sustained these gardens through centuries
o political, social and economic turmoil have
survived. Tese gardens are being restored and
have opened to the Chinese public and tourists.
Tese gardens were discovered by the West
primarily during thenineteenth and early
20th centuries, just as
the political and eco-
nomic health o the
Qing dynasty began to
decay. Unlike the dis-
covery o Japanese gar-
dens, Chinese gardens
did not immediately
inspire a rush to imitateand incorporate into
western gardens. While
Chinese plant species
have become the staples
o most western gardens,
the worldview and values behind the Chinese
garden art orm remains mysterious and unap-
proachable to many Westerners.
People in the western world tend to associate
the word garden with a plot o land adjacent
to a house used or plants only. o Westerners,
a garden is dened by plants in arranged in an
Introduction to Classical Chinese gardens
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aesthetically pleasing way. We tend to look or
and evaluate by aesthetic design o the whole
and rarity and beauty o the individual plants.
Although gardens in American and Europe are
oten part o estates, the architecture is viewed as
a separate art rom the garden itsel.
Chinese gardens are quite dierent altogether.
Chinese gardens were more properly the true
home o the wealthy, educated classes. Not sur-
prisingly, the garden then is where all the clas-
sical Chinese art orms are ound: architecture,
painting, music, calligraphy, poetry, urniture,
ceramics, carvings, penjing, and horticulture or
aesthetic rather than commercial or productive
purposes.
While the Chinese called such spaces gardens,
it might be more accurate or us to call a classi-cal Chinese garden the combined living room/
amily room/ofce/garden o a wealthy urban-
dwelling amilys home. Other than sleeping and
cooking spaces, the garden was where the am-
ily spent the majority o their time. In keeping
with this tradition, Portlands Chinese Garden
is both an indoor space represented by the our
buildings and a series o outdoor spaces con-
nected by covered walkways which the amily
would have used as hallways to move between
the various spaces within their indoor/outdoor
home.
In addition to being a literal living space or a
amily (usually an extended amily covering sev-
eral generations and siblings and their grown
amilies), a classical Chinese garden was also in-
tended as metaphor and symbol on many levels.
In American culture, we tend to view metaphors
and symbols as intellectual abstract concepts re-
moved rom our actual lives. o wealthy Chinese
amilies living in Suzhou during the Ming Dy-
nasty, men, women and children were steeped(or aspired to be so) in over a thousand years o
continuous tradition in painting, poetry, litera-
ture, music, philosophy, political science and re-
ligion. Te themes and symbols rom these were
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as close to them as literal reality. For example,
the trio o pine, bamboo and plum in the Gar-
dens courtyard are symbols o moral resilience
and perseverance which were the most aspired-
to qualities or the good man. No educated Chi-
nese during Ming times would register those
three as merely attractive plants. Tey would
also have been reading the landscape as they
viewed them, and would have been just as alive
to the metaphorical meaning o the trio.
It may be helpul to think o a classical Chinese
garden as containing ve major elements, all owhich are equally important:
1. Architecture
2. Plants
3. Stone
4. Water
5. Art & Literature
In addition, inside the buildings would have
been collections o urniture, paintings, porce-
lains, books, carved jade, lacquer ware, lanterns,
scrolls, musical instruments and more calligra-
phy. Some o these would have been on display.
Many o the most precious objets dart might
have been wrapped in silk and careully stored
away, brought out reverently or special occa-
sions.
None o these elements were intended to be
experienced as separate types o things. Instead
the design is based upon the Chinese dualisticconcept o the universe as consisting o yin and
yang, the opposites which together always orm
a whole dark & light, stone & water, hard
& sot, male and emale. And the whole is in-
tended to be viewed one rame at a time as i it
were a Chinese scroll painting being unrolled.
Within each rame is a complete picture o yin
and yang composed o some or all o the Gar-
dens elements.
Another important concept inuencing the
Gardens design is geomancy (also known as
engshui)--a belie that an essential spirit (qi)
ows through all objects and space. In the Chi-
nese worldview, qi must be correctly acknowl-
edged through careul spatial arrangements in
order to create auspicious conditions. Tese are just some o the kinds o dierent belies that
inuenced the worldview that lies behind each
Chinese garden. As you can see, the western
concept o garden which is primarily about
plants can be a barrier to our ability to see and
appreciate a classical Chinese garden
Another point to bear in mind is that classi-
cal Chinese gardens are intended to provide a
multi-sensory experience. Te calming tranquil-
ity and beauty is more than just visual. Tere
are ragrances (plants chosen especially or scent
throughout dierent seasons), sounds (the water
dripping rom the tiles), and tactile eelings (the
dierent rockwork o the pathways under your
eet).
We should also remember that these gardens
were lively places where riends were enter-
tained, children played, and servants hurriedto and ro. Te most quintessential activity in
such gardens has been immortalized in Chinese
paintings or centuries: on-the-spot poetry com-
posing contests among riends, lubricated by co-
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pious amounts o wine. As the eects o wine
took hold, the verses would veer rom erudite
reerences to past master poets to bawdy puns.
At other times, the Garden would be used or
playing music or painting in one o the pavilions
with riends, or earnest discussions o Conu-
cian texts or aoist philosophy. Perormances by
hired proessionals were also common: theater,
dance, opera, puppet shows, and music.
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Portlands garden is one o the very ew gardens
built in the Suzhou-Ming Dynasty style that
have been built outside o China. Garden
designers and artisans rom Suzhou designed
and built this Garden. It is arguably the most
authentic representation o this art orm outsideo China. Compared to the surviving gardens
within Suzhou, it is in much better condition
and thereore closer to what such a garden
would have looked like in its heyday. Like the
original gardens o Suzhou, this Garden is
unique masterpiece o this traditional art orm.
And also like the original gardens, this Garden
is intended as a reuge rom urban lie a place
or reection, contemplation and connection to
nature.
Te enclosed garden was intended as a
representation in miniature o the beauty o
the wild natural landscape, evoking images
o mountains, orests, streams and lakes and
conveying as much sense o unlimited space aspossible within the midst o a densely populated
urban metropolis. Straight lines and symmetry
are avoided since they evoke the manmade
rather than nature. Small hidden recesses open
up into unanticipated viewpoints to accentuate
the gardens expansiveness within its limited
space. Under the prevailing Conucian moral
code, all pure hearts aspired to the simple lie
as a gentleman armer surrounded by nature.
However, as in much o history in other parts
Portlands Garden
Lan Su Yuan
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o the world, wealthy amilies preerred to
congregate in cities where lie oered more
opportunity or social gatherings, entertainment
and consumer luxuries. Tese gardens allowed
them to live (or pretend to live) the simple rural
lie in the midst o one o the largest and most
sophisticated urban centers o the world during
the 15th through 19th centuries.
Architecture
Architecture in a Chinese garden is more than
just decorative outbuildings such as we see in the
ollies sometimes placed in western gardens.
Instead, in a Chinese garden, buildings are some
o the most heavily-used rooms in the entire
home. Tere is traditionally a reception hall or
anyone coming to visit. echnically, these publicspaces were intended as the only public space in
the garden while the rest was private space or
the amily. However, in practice, gardens were
built as much to be enjoyed as to display ones
prosperity and renement, so that in act both
visitors and the public were allowed access to
much o these gardens at various times. Portlands
garden has the Hall o Brocade Clouds nearest
the entrance and looking out on to the lake as
its reception hall.
Other buildings usually include a lounge house
which we might today describe as the amily
room. It is the room in which children oten
played and Chinese athers might spend time with
their children. Portlands garden has the Xuan
building in the southeast corner which represents
this unction. In a more secluded place in the
garden, one would nd the scholars hall which
in todays parlance we would call Dads ofce.
Here the male members o the amily, especially
the patriarch (ather, grandather or uncle),might practice traditional gentlemanly arts such
as painting, music, calligraphy and poetry. Here
also they would study or the government civil
service examinations which were the gentlemens
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highest attainment in the Conucian tradition.
By and large, all Chinese were Conucians
in their public lives. Conucianism was a
moral philosophy emphasizing righteous roles
and duties towards amily, society and most
importantly, government. In their private lives,
many Chinese were also aoists or Buddhists,
ocused on awakening and developing their
inner spiritual and moral qualities by withdrawal
rom the secular world yet which paradoxically
was intended to prepare them to be even better
Conucian moral actors in society.
wo nal buildings were the two-story building
which the Portland Garden uses as a public
eahouse and the smaller semi-enclosed building
on the lake. Te second oor o the ea House
would have been womens space where wives,
concubines, daughters and unmarried women
o the amily congregated daily to practice
their traditional arts o embroidery and dowry
preparation and probably some o the same
arts and studies as the men in the scholarshall. Children would have spent time up here
as well. Oten the women o the household
managed the amilys estates and nances while
the men dedicated themselves to the civil service
examinations (which took years to prepare or
and pass) and i they were ortunate, the highly-
coveted government jobs. Women rom wealthy
amilies seldom went out in public so the 2nd
story vantage point was their window into the
world as it looked out over the enclosing walls o
the garden and into the teeming streets beyond.
Te small building on the lake was a symbolic
representation o a boat and was a venue or
small gatherings to enjoy the scenery and the
lake.
Plants
China has been reerred to as the mother
o gardens. Over one-eighth o the worlds
plant species are native to China. Many o the
plants we know and love in the West such as
owering peach, camellia, magnolia and peonies
originated in China. Te Garden contains over
400 tree and plant species typical to a classical
Chinese garden. Many o these species are rarely
seen in cultivation outside o China.
During the course o 2,500 years o gardening
tradition, the Chinese came to cultivate specic
plants that were treasured or both their symbolic
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meanings and beauty. For example, one o the
most admired plants is the tree peony. Beginning
during the ang Dynasty (618 906 A.D.),
gardeners began to selectively breed to develop
large, brilliantly covered blooms. Tese plantsbecame coveted treasures so that over centuries
o cultivation, peonies came to symbolize honor,
wealth and aristocracy.
Just as Chinese plants became standard in western
gardens over the centuries, some western plants
also were incorporated into traditional Chinese
gardens such as the Southern Magnolia. oday
in our garden, 90% o the plants are native to
China while the other 10% have been adopted
by Chinese horticulture over time.
Another part o the Gardens plant collections
are the minature landscapes known as penjing.
Everyone knows about Bonsai, those tiny
clipped trees in pots associated with Japan.
However, Bonsai is a derivative o the Chinese
Pensai meaning potted tree landscape. Te
Chinese were translating large landscape intominiature pots or centuries beore the Japanese
ever picked up their pruning clippers!
Mark Vossbrink, penjing expert and volunteer
curator o the Portland Classical Chinese
Gardens collection, explains; Penjing is an
ancient Chinese art o translating the world
landscape into the miniscule and has been traced
back to 221 BCE. ypically there are two types;Landscape penjing made up o rocks, moss,
plants and sometimes small gurines, boats
and structures and Pensai penjing which eature
trees. Te Gardens penjing are on long-term
loan rom Mr. Vossbrinks private collection.
Stone
As in the West, Chinese culture has a reverence
or mountains. Te use o rock in a Chinese
garden symbolically represents the presence o
mountains. As the Ming dynasty poet/painter/
garden designer Wen Zhengming said, ruly in
the midst o a city there can be mountain and
orest. Stand-alone rocks in a Chinese garden
are oten called peaks or roots o clouds and
piled up rockeries (as above the waterall in our
Garden) are known as articial mountains.
In addition, the Chinese have an aestheticappreciation o individual rocks, especially those
with odd, irregular shapes. Te most treasured
rocks in Chinese culture are water-worn
limestone rom Lake ai near Suzhou.
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Water
Water is viewed as stones opposite sot and
nurturing. Abundant water is symbolic o
natures abundance and o the two essential
products that created wealth or Suzhou, sh
and rice. In a classical garden, water was used to
simulate the natural landscape by channeling it
into miniaturized lakes, wateralls and streams.
Te use o the word lake or what is really a
pond in the middle o Portlands garden is an
example o the illusion o greater space and wildnature. A manmade pond with goldsh ringed
by exotic exquisitely tended trees and plants
becomes a lake. An articial waterall and pile
o rocks becomes a mountain with a cascading
natural stream.
Art & Literature
On top o this articial pastoral landscape,
the Chinese also added layers o meaning and
beauty through art. Poetry and calligraphy
adorns the buildings and rocks. Te poetry and
calligraphy throughout the garden is difcult
or a westerner to appreciate. We cannot read
the language and even when it is translated, it
oten is only a ragment or reerence to a poem
or saying which the highly educated Conucian
amily would have recognized and understood. It
is said that ew westerners appreciate the beautyo great calligraphy such as that produced by
venerable masters or Portlands garden so we
can only take it on aith that these inscriptions
have an innate grandeur.
Te Garden also has a collection o replicas
o Ming and Qing dynasty urniture in the
buildings.
Te Cultural Advisory Committee is seeking
to collect appropriate cultural artiacts to be
displayed in the Scholars Hall. Tis Committee
is comprised o volunteers and the Gardens
Volunteer Coordinator serves as a liaison.
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Te Garden is not merely a replica o a classical
Chinese garden, it is a living masterpiece o
art in its own right. In Chinese art orms, the
blending o past masterpieces is not viewed as
copying but rather the ideal way to create new
art. Te Garden represents this tradition. Itintentionally incorporates elements rom what
are considered as the our best surviving classical
gardens in China but is still a unique landscape
and viewed as a separate masterpiece created by
Chinese designers and artisans.
As a masterpiece, the Garden is a living museum
o collections o plants, architecture, art, stone,
calligraphy and garden design, urniture,
penjing (the miniaturization o landscape
originated in China and is known as bonsai to
most westerners) and other artiacts. Just as art
museums protect and curate their collections,
the Gardens obligation as a living museum is to
document the collections so that both visitors
and scholars can know what it has and to care
or and preserve its collections (in the case o
plants, to grow and replace over time).
Documenting the collections is one o the rststeps in curation. Te Gardens inscription
collection (the calligraphy on rocks, buildings
and gateways) has been documented in a
published book which is available in the git
store. Te plant collection is being documented
in a plant database that will serve both as a
management tool and inormation resource.
Te plant database is accessible via the Gardens
website. Artiacts are being gathered together to
eventually be used in some way in the Scholars
Hall. Curation o the other collections ought to
occur eventually but there are no current plans
to do so.
Garden as Museum
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A classical Chinese garden represents amillennium o continuous history o the worldsmost populous and, or much o the time wealthiest and most technologically advancedcountry relating to almost every aspect otraditional Chinese culture:
Religion and philosophy Art, music, architecture Horticulture and agriculture Politics and government Social and economic history Regionalism and ethnic/cultural distinctions
within China
In addition, Portlands Garden serves as a portalto local issues such as historic Chinatown,the Chinese-American community, Suzhou-Portland sister city relationship, community
involvement and local leadership that createdthe Garden, and the long history o culturalinuence between China and the West.
Yet these topics, like the Garden itsel, are quiteoreign to most o our visitors. Te Gardens
mission to engage, educate and inspire cannotbe ullled merely by providing access to theGarden via admission. Without conceptualrameworks to understand the Garden, manyvisitors literally cannot see it. By bringing their western concept o garden to the experience,they are looking only or plants and cannot see
the rest o the Garden. For example, they can seethe buildings but they wonder why theyre theretaking up so much space and leaving so littlespace or the plants.
Learning in the GardenA Comprehensive Visitor Experience
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In order to ulll its mission, the Garden mustactively seek to engage visitors. Tis can only be
done by starting rom the visitors worldviewand expanding outwards rom there. Tis meansthe Garden must begin where the visitor begins with western experiences o garden, amily,metaphor and use language and concepts that will help them both connect to their currentworldview and reveal what heretoore most othem hadnt known even existed an exotic world500 years ago o great wealth and sophisticationwith both universal and distinct ways o relating
to the natural world through a garden.
Te Garden is in the middle o a comprehensiveVisitor Experience planning process to: ensure an enjoyable experience thatwill create desire to return and tell others o theexperience plan and promote high-qualityeducational inormation and experiences eliminate obstacles to learningTis planning process seeks to understand what
will motivate visitors to come, what promises will help visitors orm expectations or theexperience that the Garden can reasonably ulll,and what will motivate visitors to return andspontaneously spread the word to other peoplethat they also should come or the experience. We will be aligning this planning processtogether with the branding program to ensurethat we are creating the correct promise.
Tis project is being paid out o the East Meets West grant unds designated or developingvisitor materials and programming.
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Hal o the Gardens mission is to engage, inspire
and educate. Programs and events are a way to
invite visitors into a more immersive experience
that transorms them rom mere observers into
participants. Participation is known to provide
more compelling, memorable experience whileacilitating deeper and longer-lasting learning.
In addition, cultural activities help to remind
visitors o an important element o this kind
o garden people worked, lived, played
and entertained in such spaces. Variety and
quantity o programs and events also helps drive
admissions and retail by creating awareness that
the Garden is a compelling place to visit again
and again.
Te Garden hosts a variety o programs or
visitors, members, donors and new audiences
throughout the year. Starting in 2008, the ocus
o the Gardens programs is to provide low-cost
introductory programming to the majority o
the 120,000 visitors and 4,000 members who
are unamiliar with Chinese gardens, history
and culture and not particularly knowledgeable
about horticulture. Prior programming waspitched towards visitors and members who were
already deeply interested/knowledgeable about
China or horticulture. Tis kind o programming
served only a small number o the total visitors
and members and had a per capita cost that
would have made it prohibitive to provide to a
majority o visitors and members. Programming
aims to provide a window or entryway or visitors
into Chinese cultural traditions. Tis can take
the orm o demonstrations that visitors can
join in such as ai Chi, mahjong, Qi Gong and
calligraphy. In other cases, there are lectures on
such topics as eng shui or acupuncture. Other
Cultural activities in the Garden
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activities are story-telling or art activities making
simplied versions o traditional art orms. Still
other activities encourage visitors to use the
Garden as their personal retreat rom urban lie
such as Western orms o sketching or painting.
Programming in the next ew years will ollow
the recommendations and priorities set out in
a comprehensive Visitor Experience Plan. Te
planning process is underway with a completed
plan and initial implementation underway by
the end o 2009. It is likely that programming
will primarily consist o introductory materialssuch as the website, an introductory video
presentation, a new audio tour, and a variety
o brochures. Te planning process and initial
implementation is being unded by the East
Meets West grant. Further unding will be
needed and it is anticipated that the Plan will
identiy other grant-undable opportunities
to be pursued. In uture years, as the majority
audience o visitors and members becomes more
educated and interested in the Garden and
Chinese culture and history that programming
will also grow to include classes and programs
or more knowledgeable audiences.
Beginning in 2009, each program has specic
objectives and a budget:
a) educate and inspire Chinese New Year,
school tours and outreach, educational programs
or visitors in Garden, music & poetry ineahouse, docent-led tours
b) generate revenue uesdays by wilight
summer concert series, Chinese New Year,
school tours, group tours
c) bring new audiences to the Garden Chinese
New Year, uesdays by wilight summer concert
series
Te Garden seeks sponsorship to underwrite
most o these programs. In the past, sponsorship
solicitation has been relatively late and one event
at a time. In 2009, sponsorship solicitation will
begin beore the beginning o the calendar year
and oer a ull year o sponsorship choices
and opportunities. Many programs and events
are also the result o partnerships with other
organizations that provide expertise and their
own enthusiastic volunteers. Tis allows us toprovide quality programming at little to no
cost.
Programs and events are created and staed
by the Event & Program department, headed
by Event Manager, Gary Wilson and Event
Assistant, Michele Starry with much help rom
volunteers.
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As the majority o the Garden consists o built
structures exposed to the elements and heavily
used by 120,000 visitors per year, acility
maintenance is a key operational unction.
Facility maintenance runs the gamut rom
ensuring sh and plant-sae water conditionsin the pond to constant dusting, oiling and
repainting o the extensive woodwork, to
repairing the hand-laid stone mosaic pathways,
to hiring and supervising contractors to repair
electrical, water, sewer and many other issues.
Behind the scenes are things such as the electric
room, the underground vault which houses
the pumps or the waterall and pond, water
connections, air compressors or heating in theeahouse and the list goes on. Facilities sta also
cares or the interior o the ofce space, are rst
responders to ater-hours security alarms, and
prepare the Garden or major events by hanging
lanterns or other exhibits, putting up tents,
rigging lighting and audio/visual equipment.
Te eahouse is owned by the Garden but
rented to Te ao o ea as a concession. Major
maintenance and repairs to the eahouse all tothe Garden. In addition, the Garden rents roughly
nished space at the corner o NW 3rd & Davis
or its administrative ofces. All employees have
their ofces here and a conerence room is used
or Board meetings, volunteer meetings, staging
area or perormers at Garden events, and or
event preparations. Te lease is a year-to-year
lease and the landlord has plans to redevelop
the property once he can obtain permits andnancing. Te Garden subleases a portion o
the space to NW China Council on a year-to-
year lease, earning some revenue. Eventually, the
Garden will need to nd permanent ofce space.
Facilities
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Te Garden also leases a windowless storage
space immediately across the street rom the git
store or inventory and maintenance equipment
storage. Large architectural replacement parts
are housed at an outdoor storage area under the
Steel Bridge.
Current Facilities sta consists o a Facilities
Manager (Sam Dresselhaus) and a seasonal
assistant or 4-5 months in the dryer summer
months when much o the painting and repair
work needs to be undertaken. Tere is always
considerably more work to be done than canbe handled by this amount o stafng. A long
term goal o the Garden must be to increase
the Facilities maintenance budget either to
hire additional sta or allow or more contract
services.
A Facilities Committee consisting o several sta
members and Board members and the Executive
Director has been recently ormed to:
Identiy priority capital projects to
enhance visitor experience, revenue-
generating rental capacity or inrastructure
needed or more eective, efcient operations.
Includes cost estimates, sequencing and
prioritization.
Determine desired maintenance levels
or Garden and cost estimates.
Prioritize maintenance tasks within
current budget constraints
In addition, ater a lie-threatening workplace
injury to the Facilities Manager in 2008, a Saety
Committee was ormed. Te Saety Committee
includes a Board member, several members o
the operations sta, and a representative rom
the eahouse. Tis Committee has already
brought many saety innovations to the
Garden and continues to prioritize and oversee
implementation o urther improvements.
Tis Committee is comprised o Garden sta
members, a representative rom the eahouse,
and a Board member.
Renovations & improvements to acilities
In 2007, the City o Portland allocated $100,000to the Chinese Garden rom the System
Development Charges (SDC) allocated to
Portland Parks. Tese unds were designated or
capital projects that improved carrying capacity
to serve the public.
Te Garden is currently compiling project
budgets or the highest capital priorities that all
within this price range:
Heating and air-conditioning
improvements or eahouse
Replace back-up waterall pump
Upgrade electrical grid or entire
Garden
Electric carpet or one o Garden
buildings (an experiment to nd a less costly
solution than installing radiant heating
under the current oors)
Design and implement rst phases ooutdoor lighting improvements
In the spring o 2009, the Garden will be
submitting a grant proposal or these projects in
order to qualiy or the SDC unds. Construction
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on these projects should be nished by end o
2009.
Back-end technology to support visitor services
and administrative unctions are needed. Highest
on the list are new point-o-sale and phone
systems. Te Garden is considering applying or
some technology grants during 2009 to try to
und these needs. Website eatures and upgrades
such as on-line ticketing and membership are
being added in 2009.
Further capital improvements await developmento other undraising/capital campaign plans.
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.
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Most non-prots struggle to achieve and sustain
adequate unding or their programs and assets.
Without adequate unding, a non-prot cannot
ulll its mission. So non-prots are paradoxically
not in the business o making money but must
still pay a great deal o attention to money inorder to provide the services or which they are
intended. Te Garden is still in the process o
trying to achieve appropriate unding levels
or both annual operating costs and long-term
capital needs. Te Garden began its lie in
2000 with construction debt and without any
operating reserves or endowment. Construction
debt was in the orm o low-interest loans rom
the Portland Development Commission. In
business terms, this meant that it was highlyundercapitalized.
High visitation in the rst two years which is
the norm or brand-new institutions brought
in adequate revenue to support operations at
rst. However, there was not enough revenue
to make payments on the construction debt
or build up any kind o operating or capital
reservers. As visitation leveled o at lower levels
by the third year, the Garden sought to diversity
and strengthen its other revenue sources
rentals, retail, membership, contributions,
sponsorship and endowment. In addition the
2004 settlement over the pond leak added to
the reserves. And in 2005, the Garden obtained
a loan write-o rom the Portland Development
Commission, thereby erasing all construction
debt. Tese steps combined to begin to provide
sufcient unding or the Garden but as is quitecommon with non-prots, it was still not quite
enough.
Beginning in 2003, the Garden conducted
a successul capital campaign (the Lotus
Campaign) that generated some cash reserves,
as well as unding or some specic projects such
as three years o school outreach, development
o K-12 curriculum materials, and new plants.
Since 2003, the Garden has dipped into thosereserves every year (except or 2007) to cover
operating costs. When the new Executive
Director began in mid-2008, this practice o
continuing decits was brought to the Boards
attention and a commitment was made to bring
the operating budget into the black by 2010.
As a result o ocus on increasing revenues and
strategically controlling costs, the anticipated
decit or 2008 was cut in hal. In response to
the economic crisis, additional cost reductions
including some personnel lay-os were made
in early 2009 to bring the budget into balance
in 2009. Considerable eorts will need to
Funding
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continue to increase revenues and control costs
in order to achieve balanced budgets in the
next ew years. In addition, the organization is
committed to raising additional unds or capital
improvements.
Unrestricted vs. restricted income
Unlike the or-prot sector, non-prots oten
have sources o income that can only be used to
pay or specic kinds o expenses. Tese unds
are called restricted. Examples are grants or
specic projects. Such unds cannot be usedor any purpose other than that which was
promised to the donor. Te majority o a non-
prots expenses, however, are operating costs
which cannot be paid or out o restricted unds.
Tereore, a non-prot must always ensure that
it generates enough unrestricted (or operating)
revenue to cover its operating costs such as
personnel, utilities and rent. A successul non-
prot has a mix o both unrestricted and restricted
income to und operations and projects. A third
category o unding is an endowment which is
called permanently restricted. Endowment
principal cannot be touched but the interest
earned becomes unrestricted income.
Earned Income - Retail & admissions(unrestricted)
Admissions provide almost hal o the Gardensincome and retail another 15%. Ater the initial
high visitation during the Gardens rst two
years, visitation has hovered at the 120,000/
year range or the past ve years. 64% o visitors
come rom outside the Portland metropolitan
area rom all over the country and world. Te
primary motivation or visiting the Garden
is word-o-mouth recommendations rom
riends and amily. Out-o-town visitors also
provide most o the Gardens store spending, in
even greater proportion than their share o the
admissions.
Visitor surveying began in 2008 and we have
preliminary data about the aspects o the Garden
visitors most enjoy (the view o the Lake), their
domicile and reasons or coming. We have aclear understanding that currently many visitors
do not truly connect with the Garden unless
they have some prior knowledge about China or
take a docent-led tour. Te Visitor Experience
Plan will address this issue.
Te Gardens goal is to increase admissions to
150,000 by 2011. o this end, the Gardens
advertising or non-Metro area audiences will
continue, with an emphasis on ree advertising
opportunities and group tours. Also, the Garden
will promote local visitation at community
events and in local media, again searching or
ree or low-cost opportunities. However, much
o the ocus will also be on making the in-
Garden experience more compelling through
the Visitor Experience Plan so that the most
powerul engine o advertising, word-o-mouth
recommendations, will increase. We know that150,000 is a reasonable goal in that in 2006,
Portlands Japanese Garden had had admissions
o 120,000 or many years and then with new
marketing to out o town visitors and members
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and more events and programming in the
Garden, their attendance exceeded 200,000 in
2008.
Simultaneously, the Garden is working on
increasing retail sales. Te volume o retail sales
is clearly linked to admissions so as admissions
increase, so do sales. Research shows that the
better the experience is at the site, visitors will
then spend higher amounts in a git store.
However, the dollar value o sales is also aected
by the quality and variety o merchandise in the
store. Since August o 2008, the Garden storehas been reurbished with new lighting and
display shelves and the merchandise increased
and upgraded. Te stores inventory is now o
sufcient quality to be advertised to members
and others as a destination store or Chinese-
related merchandise.
Admissions and retail are supervised by the
Operations Director (Jane DeMarco). Retail
is managed by the Git Store Manager (Becky
Dresselhaus) and staed by the Manager and
Visitor Services sta (Andrea Bottger, Harris
Goodman and a seasonal employee).
Earned Income Rentals (unrestricted)
o generate revenue, the Garden rents out
the entire Garden, a building or specic site
within the Garden, or the eahouse ater regularbusiness hours. Te Garden maintains a list o
approved caterers that renters may use, covering
a range o price points and types o ood. Te
exclusive catering list is necessitated by the
unique challenges the Garden poses to caterers
(lack o kitchen, little staging space, no water or
power sources in key areas) so prior experience
in the Garden is necessary. In exchange or the
exclusive rights to cater in the Garden, each
caterer on the list is required to donate ood or
service to at least one o the Gardens own events.
Rentals are handled by the Event Director and
Event Assistant (Gary Wilson and Michele
Starry). Photo shoots using the Garden are also
handled by the Rental Department.
Beginning in the all o 2008, rental opportunitieshave been more actively promoted and
advertised, especially to the wedding market.
Earned/Contributed Income Membership (unrestricted)
Membership provides 15% o the Gardens
income. Membership at an admission-based
institution is a nancial transaction or most
members whereby they calculate how many
times they will want to visit the Garden and
members only benets vs. the annual cost o
membership or the cost o per visit admission.
Te value o membership to an institution is to
provide a stable revenue source and cashow
and to identiy potential donors. Donors are
people who make a nancial contribution to
the institution that is more than they receive in
actual benets. Members above the $100 levelare considered to be donors. Te majority o
members live within the Portland/Vancouver
metropolitan area.
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Currently, the Garden has just over 4,000
members. Tere are membership levels or
individuals, students and amilies. Membership
entitles them to ree admission during regular
hours, 10% discount at the Garden store,
early purchase on the summer concert series, a
newsletter, and a series o members only evening
hours in the summer. Whenever possible, the
Garden arranges or other benets such as
reciprocal admission at the Japanese Garden one
month o the year and discounts at other China-
related cultural events in the Portland area.
Membership is best promoted to visitors rom
the Metro area on their rst or second visit to
encourage them to think about returning again
and becoming users o the Garden rather than
just visitors. Beginning in 2008, membership
is being much more actively promoted during
ticketing and Garden store transactions. o
support membership promotion, starting in
2009 advertising or the Metro area will promote
the Garden as a place or repeat use rather than
just a place or a single visit in a lietime.
Membership is staed by the Membership
Manager, Van Machado, and is part o the
Development department.
Contributed income Development(unrestricted & restricted)
Te goal o development is to create, nurture and
sustain relationships with individuals, businesses
and oundations which will collectively and
continuously provide the philanthropic resources
(money, leadership, volunteers, skills, advice,
advocacy, connections) the Garden needs in
order to ulll its mission. Te primary ocus
o development is on individuals as they give
84% o the $260 billion that is donated in the
U.S. each year. Foundations comprise another
11% and corporations only 5%. Successul
development requires the entire organization to
ocus on recruiting and thanking donors and to
view all visitors as potential donors.
Tere is a 2008-09 Development Plan that
explains basic acts about undraising and outlinesthe 2008-09 activities and appeals the Garden
will conduct in order to recruit and connect
with donors and to raise money. Prior to August
2008, there had been no sustained development
eorts or several years and earlier development
eorts had been the single responsibility o a
single employee rather than an organization-
wide imperative. As a result, donor relationships
are troubled and need to be mended prior to
attempting to raise money. Much o the 2008
and 2009 donor communications and events are
aimed at repairing these troubled relationships.
In the development eld, nurtured relationships
begin to yield nancial results above and beyond
the investment ater 2-3 years so we expect
undraising results to remain relatively low until
2010-11. We will be measuring success in the
quality and quantity o re-engaged relationships
and many o the initial results may come in theorm o non-nancial contributions.
Te Development department is headed by the
Development Director (Wendy Mitchell). Te
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Board Development Committee works with the
Development Director to plan and implement
relationship-building and undraising eorts.
Tis Committee is chaired by Mia Nicholson.
Contributed income Grants (restricted)
Grants are a orm o unding or specic time-
limited projects. Generally, oundations do not
make grants to cover operating costs except or
the start-up costs o new programs. Obtaining
grants requires identiying unders likely to und
the desired projects, developing relationshipswith the under, preparing ull project budgets
and plans, and writing grant applications.
Grant-writing tends to generate low returns
unless a relationship is rst developed with the
under and the under has indicated interest in
the project.
Current grants:
East Meets West
3-year school outreach program
(completed)
Visitor programming & materials (see
Learning in the Garden)
Living Collections
Documentation o plant collections
(partially completed)
Horticulture related classes & events
(completed)Visitor materials (see Leaning in the
Garden)
Other grant opportunities are being considered
or high-priority needs.
Endowment (permanently restricted)
Te Gardens endowment und is approximately
$125,000. Earned interest becomes unrestricted
revenue while the principal is never touched.
Currently, the Garden holds its endowment
in a interest-bearing Money Market Account.
Over the next year, the Garden should look into
long-term investment and management o these
unds. Current best practices on endowment
management includes retaining some earned
interest to grow the principal to match ination
while paying out the rest as unrestrictedincome.
Financial Management
Day to day nances are handled by the Business
Manager (Dianne Sherwood) with oversight
by the Executive Director. Monthly nancial
statements are reviewed by the reasurer and
distributed to the entire Board. An annual
review is conducted by a CPA. ax returns are
prepared by the CPA.
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.
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Te Garden began as a dream in the early 1980s.
It became a reality in 2000 through the vision,
perseverance and generosity o elected ofcials,
community leaders and many, many citizens.
In 1985, City Commissioner Mike Lindbergand Congressman David Wu travelled to China
to explore a sister city relationship. Tey visited
one o Chinas most abled historic cities, Suzhou
(in the Yangzi delta, inland rom Shanghai)
and were enthralled with the beautiul gardens
there. Commissioner Lindberg resolved to have
a garden built in Portland as the centerpiece o a
sister city relationship with Suzhou.
It took until 1988 or a sister city relationship to
be ormally established. A year later, Lindberg
created a task orce to investigate the easibility
o constructing a garden. Te Old own
Chinatown neighborhood was selected and the
non-prot Classical Chinese Garden Society
was ounded. Four years later, Mayor Vera Katz
pledged to civic leader Bill Naito to spearhead an
eort to obtain a site or the Garden. Trough
her eorts, the board o Northwest Natural Gasdonated a 99-year $1 lease on a site at the corner
o Northwest Tird Avenue and Everett Street
or a Suzhou-style Chinese garden.
Portland then signed a partnership resolution
with Suzhous Mayor or design and construction.
Drawings and a model were developed by the
Suzhou Garden Board and the Suzhou Classical
Garden Architectural Company. In 1997,a separate non-prot, the Classical Chinese
Garden rust, was ormed to raise unds to
build the Garden and undraising is pursued
under Mayor Katz leadership or the next two
History
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years. Many oundations and individuals pledge
their support along with a major loan rom the
Portland Development Commission.
Ground-breaking occurred in June o 1999. U.S.
companies perormed the site and oundation
work while Chinese artisans worked in Suzhou
on the wooden parts o the building and
decorative windows. Every piece is then shipped
to the U.S., including ve hundred tons o rock.
Over seventy Chinese workmen arrive in the
all to actually construct the gardens buildings
and pathways. Trough a cooperative eort olandscape designers, generous local and out-o-
state nurseries, volunteer horticultural experts,
other volunteers and the Portland Parks bureau,
the plant collection is amassed and planted. A
third non-prot, the Portland Classical Chinese
Garden, is ormed to operate the Garden once
it is nished.
September 14, 2000, the Garden ofcially opens.
Over 400,000 people visit the Garden during
its rst two years. Te Gardens rst Executive
Director, Gloria Lee, is hired. Ater the rst
two years, annual Garden visitation levels o at
about 120,000.
In 2002, urniture collections are added to the
Gardens buildings in honor o volunteer Marcia
Weinstein. A pond leak discovered in the early
years requires extensive negotiations with thearchitects and contractors to reach a nancial
settlement. By 2004, extensive repairs are
undertaken to x a leak in the pond liner and
the Garden is closed or a ew weeks. In 2003-
2004, the Garden launches and successully
completes a undraising campaign (the Lotus
Campaign) to improve horticulture collections,
develop K-12 curriculum materials and a school
outreach program, and build up operating
reserves.
In 2008, Gloria Lee announces her pending
retirement. Cynthia Haruyama is hired in the
spring o 2009 as the Gardens second Executive
Director.
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As classical Chinese gardens originated in a
warmer summer-rain climate, it requires great
skill to grow authentic plants in Portlands climate.
Te Horticulture department is responsible or
all plants within and around the perimeter o
the Garden as well as the water plants. Te
Horticulture department works rom the original
planting plans and according to a yearly work
plan developed in conjunction with the original
garden designer, Ms. He o the Suzhou Garden
Bureau. Ms. Hes ocus is on the major plantings
placement and pruning o trees, shrubs and
vines - and the sightlines within the Garden. Te
Horticulture department is also concerned with
the authenticity, health and viability o all o the
plantings plus the smaller understory plantings
that add horticultural interest to the Garden.
Te horticultural sta maintains the health and
aesthetics o each plant, grows replacement plants
in the o-site greenhouse, moves and removes
the aquatic plants seasonally, and replaces and
adds new plants as needed. Since a garden is
always a work-in-progress as plants are living,
changing entities, the horticultural department
is constantly anticipating and responding to
change.
Tey also are responsible or a greenhouse (rented
rom Portland Public Schools) where they grow
replacements or the unusual plants, winter over
the water lotus plants which might reeze in
our climate i let in the pond, and propagate
plants or the semi-annual plant sales. Tey lead
horticulturally themed tours on a regular basis.
As the most visible sta members to visitors,
they must always project a cheerul willingness
Horticulture
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34 | organizational profle
to answer questions about the Garden. Behind
the scenes, they are also responsible or keeping
the plant database up to date.
Te horticulture sta consists o one Horticulture
Manager (Glin Varco), a horticultural assistant
(Lucy Baker), and a seasonal worker (usually
6 months o the year). As with the Facilities
sta, there is considerably more work to be
done and another goal should be to increase the
Horticulture sta by at least one more ull-time
person.
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Te Board and Executive Director are jointly
responsible or ensuring that the Garden
is ullling its mission. Tis translates into
determining and monitoring strategic direction,
working to create appropriate and adequate
resources or the Garden to do its job, andnancial oversight. In addition, the Board has
the role o monitoring the Executive Directors
perormance in terms o the goals and objectives
set orth in the mission, annual budget and
Strategic Plan. An Executive Committee works
closely with the Executive Director to more closely
monitor operations, strategic plan priorities and
prepare inormation and recommendations or
the entire Board to consider.
Te Executive Director is responsible or
managing the Gardens sta, nances and
operations and keeping the Board inormed about
all key issues and trends. In partnership with
the Board, the Executive Director also works to
develop appropriate and adequate resources or
the Garden to do its job. Te Executive Director
must ensure and monitor her own workplan plus
those o all sta and departments, the annualbudget and goals to match the mission, Strategic
Plan and the Gardens resources.
A Board Nominating Committee is responsible
or identiying, recruiting and orienting new
Board members. Te Committee is chaired by
Anne Naito-Campbell.
Leadership
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.
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Communications and marketing supports
admissions, retail, rentals, volunteers, events,
programs, development and membership by
designing and printing advertising copy, signage,
collateral materials and website postings. Design
and printing are outsourced as needed. Te
Communications department is responsible
or the design and content o advertising, the
website, collateral materials (Membership
brochure, event invitations, etc.) and the
newsletter. Te Communications department is
responsible or developing an annual advertising
plan and budget, preparing and sending out
press releases, seeking ree and in-kind marketing
opportunities and managing media relations.
Te Communications department consists o the
Marketing Manager (part o the responsibilities o
Operations Director Jane DeMarco)
and Communications Manager (ScottSteele). Eventually, the Garden needs
a ull-time Marketing Manager.
While the Garden has a logo and
tagline, its brand identity needs to be
strengthened and standards developed
or and implemented in all collateral
materials. In addition, the Garden
needs to determine the messages that
will be most compelling and relevantto the variety o audiences it must
engage visitors, members, donors,
volunteers, and public ofcials.
Branding project rereshing the image
In the business world, it is elt that identity
materials need to be rereshed every ve years.
Te Garden is thereore overdue to re-invigorate
its image and message in the community. Parallel
to the Visitor Experience planning project, we
are working with a creative rm to identiy the
primary and secondary themes and audiences
Marketing & Communications
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or our brand. Once these are agreed to in a
Creative Brie, design and messages, the creative
rm will develop messages and design. Most o
this work is being perormed pro bono.
You might expect that ater nine years o
explaining the Garden, we would know which
core messages and experiences resonate with our
visitors and members and those which inspire
them to return and become supporters. Yet we
have neither data nor consensus on this. For
most o the Gardens history, we have relied
upon the idea that the Garden sells itsel oncevisitors come, they will get it and our job is
done. At the same time, we have been telling
stories lots o them trying to cram in all o
the 1,000 years o history and culture and the
local issues into each introductory visit. In act,
however, ad hoc visitor debries suggest that
many visitors nd the Garden pleasurable but
only ater overcoming their initial impressions
o it not being a garden, not being a big enough
experience to justiy the cost o a ticket, and the
lack o inormation to help them understand
and appreciate all the non-plant aspects.
While branding cannot address the experience
itsel, we believe a more communicative brand
identity would help visitors correctly anticipate
what their experience will be like and thereore
actually enjoy the experience more. It should
also both guide and relate to the stories weare telling about the Garden so that all o our
messaging - branding, marketing, interpretation
and education is creating and ullling the
same promise to our visitors and members.
Te deliverables or this project are:
A comprehensive brand identity platorm1.
including design guidelines, templates and
key messages which eectively communicate
our essential identity to visitors, members,
donors, readers o advertising, web browsers
& volunteers
Key messages2.
New logo3.
Style guide which will guide our external4.
& in-house designers
Design template or newsletter5.Tese are all the deliverables we can aord at
the present time. Using the styleguide, we
will continue to create other materials in-
house. When budget permits, we will probably
outsource some o the materials back to the
creative rm to ensure we are maximizing the
new brand.
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Te Garden is located in the heart ohistoric Chinatown/Japantown. Tis areawas vacated by the Japanese when they weremoved to internment camps during WorldWar II. Chinese businesses began to move
out over the lasttwo decades sothat i there is aChinatown inPortland now, itis out on 82ndAvenue.
Te currentneighborhood is
a mix o socialservices, somebusinesses, low-income singleoccupancy hotels, nightclubs and morerecently more restaurants and other non-prots such as the University o Oregonand the soon-to-be new MercyCorpsheadquarters. For generations, this has been
an economically depressed area where theiconic images are o a Skid Row nature.
Public nancing assisted the construction othe Garden in the hopes it would provide an
anchor or economic redevelopment in theneighborhood. Experience has shown thatthe Garden by itsel is not enough. However,there have been new restaurants, coeeshops,retail, and middle-income housing units
added in thepast decade.Te Gardenengages withand participatesin the threeneighborhoodg o v e r n i n gassociations.
Te Garden wishes to honorthe historicalc o n n e c t i o n
between it and the Chinese communitythat once lived in the neighborhood. Tis isaccomplished through supporting Chinesecommunity major events and associations.Te Garden actively seeks to include
members o the Chinese community on itsBoard, among its volunteers, and to hireChinese-Americans or Chinese speakers orits sta.
Neighborhood & Chinese community
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.
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Te Garden is owned by the City through the
bureau o Parks & Recreation. Te non-prot
organization operates it through a license
agreement with the City. Te non-prot is
obligated to support itsel while caring or and
operating the Garden or the communitys benet.Major acilities and capital improvements can
technically be reerred to the City or unding
subject to its own budget limitations. Since
the City is not overowing with extra unding,
obtaining any City unding is an uphill challenge.
Constant monitoring o the city and Parks
bureau budget situation is needed, as well as,
constant (but riendly) advocacy at all levels (City
Council, Parks bureau leadership, Parks bureau
line personnel) or compelling unding needso the Garden. Tere are also opportunities to
obtain in-kind services rom Parks many service
departments such as tree care, pest management
and greenhouse. Since no sustained advocacy
has been conducted since the Garden opened,
there have been little public unding or in-kind
services. However, there is now a public unding
ask Force consisting o some Board membersand the Executive Director and they believe that
by applying strategic consistent advocacy over
time, some public unding opportunities will
arise or the Garden.
Another area o political advocacy by the
Garden is on neighborhood development
issues. Te Garden participates along with the
neighborhood associations on many issues such
as land use, Portland Development Commissionnancing and the ratio o social services to other
businesses.
Political advocacy & public funding
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.
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Te Garden has conducted a 3-year school
outreach program primarily to rural Oregon
schools outside o the Metro area rom 5/06
5/09. Tis entailed developing K-12 curriculum
materials introducing classical Chinese culture
and the Garden. Ten the Gardens EducationalDirector (a position unded or only 3 years as
part o this project) took the materials on the
road. Final tally was over 35,000 students and
teachers reached by this program. Tis project
was part o the East Meets West grants. Te
grant unding or this project comes to an end
in May 2009 and cannot be renewed.
However much o the impact o this program
will continue as the curriculum materials arenow available via the website and CD to teachers
throughout Oregon. Also, docent tour guides
have been trained specically or school groups
and the program has been advertised to teachers
in the Metro area.
School groups and curriculum
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.
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Te Garden is a product o the sister city
relationship between Portland Suzhou, China.
While today cities such as Shanghai and Beijing
are best known in the West, rom the 14th
through 19th century, Suzhou was the most
amous city within China. While the imperialcourt and ofcials resided in Beijing, the
paradise on earth sought by most
Chinese was Suzhou, a city on
the Yangzi delta, inland rom
present-day Shanghai.
During those ve centuries,
Suzhou was the wealthiest,
most prosperous and most
sophisticated city in China. All the best merchandise and
agricultural products came
to Suzhou and most o it was
manuactured in Suzhous
workshops or silk, cotton,
embroidery, urniture, lanterns,
silver, paper woodblock
printing, etc. Te wealthy
and powerul sought to live inSuzhou or retire there ater their government
service in ar-ung posts o the empire. Around
their homes they spent ortunes building
elaborate gardens. Surviving today are sixty
o these original gardens, eight o which are
UNESCO world heritage sites.
Due to the sister city relationship, Portland built
the most authentic Suzhou-style garden outside
o China. As delegations rom Suzhou andother parts o China visit Portland, a must-see is
Portlands Chinese Garden where
they eel they have stepped into
the glory days o Suzhous past.
Te Garden works closely with
the Portland Suzhou Sister
City Association to maintain
a vibrant government-to-
government and people-to-people link with Suzhou. oday,
Suzhou retains its lovely old
character in the center o the
town with its historic canals,
bridges, city gates and gardens.
raditional handicrats are still
practiced by many artisans so
that Suzhou is still a center
or silk, embroidery, paintingand other arts. Yet Suzhou is also an economic
powerhouse in modern China with industrial
parks and high-tech manuacturing.
Suzhou and Sister City Relationship
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Volunteers enhance all aspects o the Gardens
operations rom docent-led tours, gardening
and acilities assistance, stafng events and
programs, and helping with mailings and other
ofce unctions. Volunteers add great vitality to
the Garden through their presence within theGarden and the passion and knowledge they
bring. Trough their interactions with visitors,
members and the community, they develop and
are knowledgeable about what the Garden needs
to do to connect to people. Tey also serve as
a dedicated constituency in the community to
spread word-o-mouth recommendations about
the Garden.
While volunteers are not ree, they are a relatively
low-cost way to increase the Gardens unctions
and services. o keep volunteers happy and
engaged requires sta time enthusiastically
dedicated to recruiting, training, scheduling and
thanking volunteers. Te volunteer program ismanaged by the Volunteer Coordinator, Katie
Hill. However, working harmoniously with and
acknowledging the contributions o volunteers
are a responsibility o all sta.
Volunteers
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Signicant anniversaries create the opportunity
to re-engage donors, members, volunteers,
elected ofcials and the community. Te Garden
will be using its 10th anniversary to remind our
community o the Gardens presence and value
and to encourage them tocome or another look. Many
in our community have still
not visited the Garden.
Many came once during the
rst two years and eel they
have seen that, done that.
Tis is an opportunity to
intrigue them to come
again and help them realize
that the Garden is a placeo many layers and innite
experiences, worth visiting
and re-visiting all the time.
Te anniversary celebrations
will kick o on June 7,
2009 with a ceremony
honoring Mayor Vera Katz
who was so instrumental inmoving the Garden rom dream to reality. Tis
will mark the tenth anniversary o the ground-
breaking or construction in 1999. Over 1,200
o the Gardens ounders and early leaders have
been invited. More news and anniversary-related
events will ollow. Te nal celebration will be
a gala dinner held at the Portland Art Museum
ballroom on September 16, 2010 marking the
10th anniversary o the Gardens opening.
Te 10th Anniversary Gala
Committee is chaired by
Gayle Cheldelin and is
staed by the Development
Department. Honorary co-
chairs are Arlene and Harold
Schnitzer.
10th Anniversary
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ConuciusConucius, a wise man who lived sometime
around 500 B.C., is the ounder o an intellectual
tradition that seeks to provide wisdom and
structure to ensure a just and eective political
and social order. At the heart o the Conuciantradition is the belie that all things and people
must be in right relationship with each other
and rom this harmony will ow social and
political justice and harmony. Conucians
thereore are both ocused on internal character
in order to understand and live up to every right
relationship and on external deeds in that such
right relationship prepares them to be eective
government administrators. Te highest idea o
every Conucian gentleman is to be o service tohis community through government service.
DynastyStarting rom 220 B.C., Chinese governments
and historians have divided time into eras
known as dynasties, named ater the ruling
amily who ounded the primary government.
Tere has been remarkable similarity in style
o government over this time, broken onlyby the rise o a brie republican government
and then communist government in the 20th
century. An emperor ruled rom a capital city,
with governance unctions executed by a class
o people known as the scholar-ofcials (see
below).
Literati
Another name or scholar-ofcial (see below),this term also suggests the other cultural pursuits
o the scholar-ofcial. Beyond mastering the
Conucian classics, the literati sought to develop
their aesthetic and spiritual sensibilities through
practicing the arts o painting, calligraphy,
poetry and music and by staying close to the
natural environment through such places as a
garden. Women o these households also were
part o the literati class, becoming well-educated
in the same texts as the men and also practicingthe same arts.
Ming Dynasty1368 1644
PenjingMiniaturized rendition o the natural landscape
similar to a landscape painting. Tis tradition
started in the 7th century in China. Subsequently Japanese culture adopted this practice and
developed the art o bonsai. Tou sharing
a common origin, bonsai and penjing have
Glossary of Terms
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developed distinct dierences, most notably
in bonsais adherence to an idealized vision o
the tree or plant. Penjing, in contrast, seeks
the lively poetry o wind, water, and time in
shaping a composition. Penjing oten includes
gurines and rocks to complete the miniaturized
landscape.
Qing Dynasty1644 - 1912
Scholar-ofcial
Unlike most o the worlds history whereleadership positions were primarily based upon
kinship or xed classes o nobility, Chinese
government ofcials have always been drawn
rom a meritocratic process created to discern
knowledge and wisdom. Over time, this
process became known as the examination
system which tested scholars knowledge o the
Conucian classics. It took years and sometimes
a lietime to rise up through examination levels
so the class o people who pursued this course
became known as the scholars or the aspiring
part o their lives and ofcials or the time
when they actually passed a high enough level to
be awarded a government post. Any male could
aspire to become a scholar-ofcial. Preparation
or this lie became widespread at all levels o
Chinese society during the Ming and Qing
dynasties. Although ew actually succeeded, the
equal opportunity to compete regardless o classor birth, created a social mobility that was at the
heart o Ming and Qing dynasty social stability.
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Post Ofce Box 3706Portland, Oregon 97208-3706