Category — International Experience

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We knew that eventually, the day would come when we would have to pack our bags and come home. Before heading to the airport however, we squeezed in a visit to the Shanghai Museum. Originally founded in 1952, the museum moved to its present location in the center of the city, the People’s Square in the mid-nineties. It currently houses over 120,000 pieces including ancient coins and seals, bronze sculptures, jade carvings, traditional paintings and calligraphy, and ornate furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. With many of the pieces dating back over 6,000 years, the museum made the long history of Chinese culture palpable and provided a sense of context for all that we had seen on the trip.

Ceremonial jade knife

Ancient stone carving of buddhist figures

Red-lacquered wood table

Afterwards, we piled onto our tour bus and headed to the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Along the way, we caught a blurry glimpse of the Shanghai Magnetic Levitation Demonstration Operation Line, a high-speed commuter train that travels almost 270 mph! Although the Maglev made our bus look like it was standing still, we did make it to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. Good thing too, as we would not have wanted to miss a minute of the four hours spent waiting on the Tarmac for some thunderstorms to pass! Nevertheless, the flight was smooth and thankfully, direct! Some eighteen hours later we stumbled out of the airport in Newark, NJ and with a warm “welcome home” from Dr. Lyons (now known as the patron saint of weary travelers) piled onto the bus for the drive back to Longwood Gardens and Newark, DE.

All aboad the LGP bus!

We have enjoyed an amazing three-week tour of China featuring almost a dozen public gardens, countless cultural sites, and beautiful scenery. Our deepest thanks go out to our gracious hosts at each institution who helped in coordinating the visit and took time to show us their collections and teach us about their work. We would love to visit again and, more importantly, hope that we will have the opportunity have a chance to reciprocate your generous hospitality when you visit the U.S.

Naomi learning about different Lagerstroemia in Nanjing

Shari getting a lesson on the endangered flora of the Yunnan Province

Naomi chatting with Shanghai Botanical Garden's cactus expert

Many thanks also, to Doug Needham and Naomi McCafferty for serving as chaperones on the trip. Things would not have gone as smoothly without you and we appreciate your help in making the trip a more enriching experience. Thanks for putting up with (and partaking in) the shenanigans of the Class of 2010! We really enjoyed your company and the opportunity to get to know you better.

Doug admiring one of the many bird-kites that we saw throughout China

Despite being ticklish- Naomi holding very very still for a new friend!

Lastly, thanks to the staff at Asia Transpacific Journeys for helping us organize the trip and all of their wonderful local tour operators who got us to the right place at the right time, and made sure that we had fun getting there!

The LGP gang in a tropical conservatory at the South China Botanical Garden

再见 (zài jiàn),

Daniel Stern (2009 International Experience Coordinator)

Shari Edelson

Andrew Gapinski

Jon Pixler

Keelin Purcell

Longwood Graduate Fellows, Class of 2010

Today on our last full day of touring, the group went to several sites to further experience Shanghai at its finest. We started the morning at the Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai’s most famous temple. The temple was constructed in 1882 to house two large jade Buddha statues that were brought from Burma by the abbot Wei Ken. While visiting, the group viewed the two statues, learned about the Buddhist religion from our tour guide, and took part in a coin-tossing ritual to bring us good luck.

Jade Budda Temple

Andrew trying to throw a coin in for good luck.

Bonsai at the temple covered with wish flags.

Next we took a trip to the Yu Garden and Bazaar. Even though this area is not very old, it is well known for its old-fashioned buildings and the peaceful Yu Garden, originally constructed during the Ming dynasty. The garden was small but well-designed and it is the only classical garden that still exists in Shanghai. The Yu Garden was originally a private garden owned by the Pam family, but was abandoned several times during wars and was finally taken over by the government, which then renovated it and opened it for tourism. The garden is now surrounded by many shops and restaurants which occupy old-fashioned buildings. One of the most famous buildings within the Bazaar is the Huxington Teahouse, built in 1784. The teahouse is most recognizable for the Bridge of Nine Turnings, a large zigzag bridge that protects the building from evil spirits.

Shari and Andrew in the Yu Garden

Yu Garden scene

Koi feeding in a pond at the Yu Garden.

The Bridge of Nine Turnings

Market shopping

Old-style building in the Yu Garden Bazaar

The group then went on a quick tour of downtown Shanghai to experience some of the skyscrapers up close. Shanghai is known for its extensive skyline, consisting of over 6,000 buildings taller than 30 stories. One stop on this tour was the historical Bund district often associated with the opening of China to trade with western countries. However, due to lots of construction the group only took a look into the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) building. The bank building was built in 1921 and was known as one of the most beautiful buildings in China because of its extravagant marble interior. The next and final stop was by the Shanghai riverfront where the group took some photos of the skyline and the famous Pearl TV Tower.

Pearl TV tower

City skyline

Group at the river front

Today we had a wonderful visit with the staff and tour of the grounds at the Shanghai Botanical Garden.  Located just west of the heart of the sprawling city, the garden serves as a green oasis for the 18.6 million people who call Shanghai home. Constructed in 1976 and covering an area of 80 hectares, the garden’s core mission is to support and promote the development of green spaces to improve the quality of urban life through urban plant research, education, and plant development. These efforts are paying off with the area of green space in Shanghai increasing from 1 square meter to 12 square meters per person in the last ten years.

Group shot with Director, Dr. Hu Yonghong (left of Doug) and other staff

Dan and Keelin enjoying their morning tea

The garden maintains extensive collections of orchids, roses, magnolias, peonies, medicinal plants, and an award winning penjing (bonsai) collection with over 2,000 specimens representing more than 40 species. The collection, covering 4 hectares, features all 5 penjing styles recognized in China, each unique for the technique used and the form of the specimen. Of the 5 styles, the collection highlights the “Shanghai Style” which is the newest style recognized, combining aspects from the other 4 styles. The garden also maintains a large conservatory known as the Tropicarium covering 0.6 ha with over 3000 specimens.  On our tour, we got a bird’s eye view of the collections including bromeliads, orchids, aroids, and palms from the closed-to-the-public catwalk, in the rafters of the conservatory. 

One of many beautiful Pinus parviflora penjing (bonsai) on display.

Doug and Keelin on the catwalk

After a delightful lunch we enjoyed a behind the scenes look at the propagation facilities holding the largest collection of succulents in China, a spectacular collection of bromeliads, and grafted cactus that even blew Jon Pixler’s mind (a Texas native).  We also viewed the woody plant breeding nursery and were introduced to staff working on crops including roses, camellias, flowering quince, and peonies. Camellias, for example, were being bred for fragrance and small, but copious blooms.  We continued on to view an impressive composting facility – actually the first we have encountered in any of the institutions we’ve visited.

Jon discusses Begonia production with Director, Dr. Hu Yonghong

Trays of young succulents (Lithops) and cactus started from seed

Cactus in bloom

Doug and Keelin speak with the rose breeder in the field

We would like to once again extend a warm thanks to the staff at Shanghai Botanical Garden and especially to the garden Director, Dr. Hu Yonghong for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with us.

The final note of this post is a fun fact regarding chicken feet in China! The Chinese consume 8 million chicken feet a month and unless we are talking one-footed chickens that means 4 million chickens. So where are all these feet coming from…yep you guessed it – the Chinese import 60% of chicken feet from other countries, including the U.S., that would otherwise waste those cute little toes. 

Stay tuned for our next post as we explore the 24-hour city of Shanghai.   

Since we spent yesterday touring the gardens of Suzhou, today we got the chance to see more of the city! We started out with a morning boat ride along the Grand Canal, getting a great view of Suzhou from the water. Stretching some 1800km from Beijing to Hangzhou, the Grand Canal used to serve as a major route for the transportation of food and other materials. The section through Suzhou was constructed about 2500 year ago. We also turned into the smaller Shan Tang Canal, which winds through the Old City. We saw many lanterns, porch plants, and local people doing their laundry. It was a fun and relaxing way to spend our morning.

We're on a boat!

View of the smaller canal from the boat.

Shari enjoying the canal from the small deck of the boat.

After lunch, we headed to Luzhi Water Town. All of Suzhou used to be neighborhoods with series of small canals and bridges. As the city has grown and industry has taken over much of the landscape, there are now only smaller pockets of these original areas. The Water Town in Luzhi offers a chance to see what Suzhou would have looked like in the past. It was very picturesque with several historical sites to visit, such as the Boa Sheng Temple and the Wansheng Rice Store, an original rice store for the village.

View of the Luzhi Water Town.

Keelin by one of the small canals.

Our group on one of the beautiful bridges.

This afternoon, we took our last train to Shanghai, where we will spend the remaining three days of our trip. 

Today’s itinerary was truly jam-packed! We visited three of Suzhou’s most well-known classical gardens and then traveled to the headquarters of the city’s Gardens and Landscape Administration Bureau, which maintains both the classical gardens and Suzhou’s urban landscape plantings.

By Chinese standards, Suzhou is a small city: it has just under 7 million residents! Its fertile soil, mild climate, and ample rainfall make it an excellent place to grow plants, and the city has long been renowned as the site of many of China’s most exquisite gardens. The classical gardens of the Ming and Qing dynasties were built not by professional landscape designers, but instead by artists, poets, and philosophers. It is said that they derive their beauty not merely from the plants within them, but from the synthesis of natural, artistic, and philosophical elements present within the overall design.

The Lingering Garden, built just over 500 years ago during the Ming dynasty, covers an area of approximately 5 acres in Suzhou’s Old City district. Widely considered the most beautiful of Suzhou’s classical gardens, it contains both intimate spaces and panoramic views. Within the garden’s central courtyard is a peaceful lotus pond, around which are four elegant pavilions, one for each of the seasons of the year.

A view of the central courtyard at the Lingering Garden

The group lingering in the Lingering Garden!

Musicians playing traditional Chinese ballads in the Lingering Garden

The next garden we visited, the Master-of-Nets Garden, was built over 850 years ago by a retired Song dynasty official. He originally named the garden “Fisherman’s Retreat” to evoke the peacefulness of the life he wished to live in old age; a later owner changed the name to “Master-of-Nets,” retaining the name’s maritime imagery but elevating its formality. Although this was the smallest garden we visited today (only 1.5 acres!), the division of the space into many garden rooms provided visual interest and made the garden seem much larger than it actually was.

A doorway frames a view of one of the courtyards at the Master-of-Nets Garden

Jon, Naomi, and Andrew hanging out in the rockery at the Master-of-Nets Garden

A stone pavilion at the Master-of-Nets Garden

The Humble Administrator’s Garden was our third stop. Water is a prominent feature of this garden, covering around 60% of its total area! As we walked through the garden, we admired the beautiful architecture, incredible plants (including a 430-year-old wisteria!), and intriguing rockery formations.

Zigzag bridge at the Humble Administrator's Garden

A pavilion with beautiful cobalt-tinted windows at the Humble Administrator's Garden

Chinese tourists crossing a bridge over the lotus pond at the Humble Administrator's Garden

During our afternoon visit to the offices of the Suzhou Gardens and Landscape Administration Bureau, we met with Ms. Wang Lijun, head of the city’s urban greening projects, and Professor Xiang, head of horticulture for the classical gardens. The Bureau currently owns 36 of the 37 classical gardens still extant in the city (between the Ming and Qing dynasties, over 1000 gardens were built in Suzhou; unfortunately, many were destroyed or simply disappeared over the centuries). Of the gardens the Bureau oversees, 20 are open to the public, while the remaining 16 are under renovation and will be opened to public visitation at some point in the future. The Bureau takes historic garden preservation very seriously – as Professor Xiang explained to us, each garden is like a canvas painted with trees: destruction of a single plant specimen can upset the balance of the entire composition.

Our meeting with Ms. Wang Lijun and Professor Xiang at the Suzhou Gardens and Landscape Administration Bureau

After our day of garden visits, we returned to our hotel to relax and prepare for tomorrow’s excursion – a boat tour of Suzhou’s Grand Canal and a visit to the historic water town of Luzhi. Stay tuned for a full report tomorrow night!