It has been several years since I visited the Huntington and it was definitely a treat to not only see the changes, but also to be able to learn from the guides and Mr. Campbell. I have been to only 2-3 other Chinese gardens and it was several years back in China and I did not understand as much about Chinese gardens at the time. Today I got to experience the garden in a whole new way, with a different set of senses more honed towards understanding the subtleties of the garden's plants, buildings, and animals. Nina was an amazing guide as she taught about the countless elements which go into garden design. Having lived in Japan for several years and having a great interest in Japanese culture, it was a breath of fresh air to learn about a Chinese garden rather than a Japanese garden; information I hope to pass on to my students.

What a wonderful day! I enjoyed the tour by Nino and I liked hearing the meaning behind the gardens. Every motif from the dragon wall to the rock plum blossom walkway had meaning. It was great to hear Dr. Campbell give us more insight into the gardens of China. One of the images that he showed us was of a sketch of a garden that was drawn in 1638 by the garden's owner, Chen Guoguang. Guoguang sent this drawing to several of his friends to write poems about his garden. I found this humorous. It is kind of like taking a picture of your nice new shiny car and asking your friends to write a poem about it. I want to integrate Guoguang's idea by having students do homework by drawing their favorite object that is in their home. Then everyone brings their drawing back to school, we talk about Guoguang's drawing and then students will trade sketches and write a Korean styled poem about their classmate's drawing.

This museum was absolutely beautiful. I was amazed by the number of experts and amount of money it took to create this Chinese garden. The tour guide explained the detailed work that had to be done to replicate a private Chinese garden. It was also mind-blowing to realize how everything in the garden had a purpose and was carefully mapped out. Dr. Duncan was also able to give a background on how Chinese gardens were seen as status and a source of income. I would love to take my students to see the different types gardens of Huntington and be able to introduced to new ideas and cultures.

This was my first trip to the garden section of the Huntington. I was impressed by the detail and quality of the Chinese and Japanese gardens. There is a lot to see, enjoy, and appreciate in terms of the architecture, ponds, rocks, and plants - the four attributes our lecture talked about. Perhaps students could make a shoe box (or use those cafeteria trays) to design thier own gardens with materials or just colors.

The lecture also gave me some discussion ideas. They talked about the 27-month mourning period for mothers, which led to a comment about pregnancy and what women could wear, how to stand, what music to listen to etc. That reminded me about today in Thailand (rural mainly) where traditions about pregnancy (drinking lots of coconut water to keep baby's skin white), or after the birth to stay out of sight for 30 days, the limits on foods, etc. While maybe not for elementary school, secondary discussions can be had about these comparisons and contrasts about traditions.

Using gardens as we would today's golf courses for business dealings is interesting, as using them for lite farming in order to avoid taxes.

The story of Qi Biaojia and his mountain garden was the most interesting. I couldn't find much about him in English apart from the PDF you can download at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:A6dHuoavdAwJ:https://newterrains.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/campbell-qibiaojia.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
. I'd like to read more about him to see how I could integrate him into our class.

I actually learned a lot on the tour of the Chinese garden. I was surprised to find that everything was symbolic - even the rocks in path. I was so impressed with how beautiful the gardens were and how large they are right now. I can't imagine how much better they will be once they are finished with phase 2. I was intrigued by the insight into the various shaped cut-outs from the walls that they gave the women a different perspective and made it more interesting since that was pretty much their entire world. As we wandered around the garden it was easy to see how the garden could fill its various purposes and uses. I think it would be great to bring a class to the garden and have them try to write a poem.

I want my students to experience the beauty of the Huntington's Chinese garden. I have never seen anything like the Chinese garden at the Huntington in all my life. The space is indeed a tranquil world. Dr. Campbell and our docent talked about the natural materials and food yielded from a 16th century Chinese garden. During lecture, Dr. Campbell showed us images of a hillside garden owned by a 16th. century Chinese bureaucrat. The images show people fortunate to own such a space using the natural landscape to design the home's garden. The garden provided the home with supplemental, seasonal products and the surplus could be sold for profit. The home's garden was not a profitable space, but reasonably the space provided the home with food and materials that did not have to purchased at market. Walking the path through the courtyard into the open space around the water I thought of the essay Peach Blossom Spring. I teach a unit on industrialized food production and I like the idea of introducing the students to different cultural representations of utopian ideals showing humans working with nature to create agrarian harmony. Our docent for example talked about the part of the lotus plant used to create a fabric highly prized by Buddhist monks. I want to attend the Peach Blossom spring exhibit in September on behalf of my students for additional resources. Asking students to create their own utopian ideal using any medium they choose such as text, drawing, Minecraft, etc. would get students to contemplate the conflicts that could arise as a result of varying ideals of social harmony. Finding the balance between individual and the communal good is the crux of modernity because history has shown the consequences of prizing the individual over the communal and vice versa. Once students are challenged to contemplate the balance of opposing forces I will go into my unit on industrialized food production using the texts Chew on This or Fast Food Nation depending on the students level. When contemplating balance though I'd like to use parts of Autumn Floods. The big idea of the unit asks students identify the central problem presented in an assigned chapter, outlining the causes and effects of this problem, and then proposing a solution. The students work in literary circle groups to create a teaching presentation. This is essentially the jig saw strategy. I'd like the Taosit texts to somehow bookend the unit as a kind of BDA contemplation piece for reflective journal style writings to consider when they contemplate a solution. Anyhow, the garden inspired this more flushed out thinking about how to use two texts that I really liked and have been trying to find a place to integrate them into. This might work.
edited by lbernard on 8/11/2015

Before it got too expense, I used to visit Huntington Library all the time. The last time I came, they were in the middle of renovations and the entrance was somewhere way different from what I was used to and from where it is now. Although our visit was great, it was too brief, and I definitely want to go back to appreciate all of the new changes.

I chose the Chinese Garden because I feel that I am very familiar with the Japanese garden and Japanese gardens in general. It was very interesting to hear that the purpose of the Chinese Garden is to offer a home away from home, to literally give you an escape from your every day life. It was also interesting to hear the purpose of the different elements of the garden. I couldn't believe that the placement of the rocks was so important that a crew from China had to be flown in to place them correctly and that the effect would be so significant. I did immediately notice the upside down placement of the largest rock which goes against western thinking of how rocks should be placed/arranged and I wondered how it managed to stay in place, or more importantly, how did they manage to get it in that position?

I loved the bridges and the pond with blooming lotus flowers - we were very luck to see the blooming lotuses as it only occurs in the peak of summer. We were also fortunate to hear a bullfrog. I particularly enjoyed the wood carved panels of 7 different/types gardens and in particular the one that inspired the design of Huntington's Chinese Garden.

Last time I was here, phase 1 was complete and phase 2 had just begun, so the waterfall, bridges, wooden panels, had not yet been completed last time I was here. I am anxious to see the rest of this garden, once it is completed. I realize it will be years from now due to funding, etc., but I am sure it will be well worth the wait.