Visiting the Chinese and Japanese gardens at the Huntington Library was a great experience. The weather was almost perfect and our guide was insightful and energetic. Walking through the Chinese garden immediately took me back to China, but at the same time it was like our guide, Nino, said, "We’d be going into our own space." Upon arriving at the edge of the lake I saw swallows diving down to the water barely grazing the lake catching tiny insects, similar to what one sees at Beijing University's Weiming Hu. Nonetheless, a hummingbird suddenly made its presence known as it hovered for a few seconds in front of us reminded me where we were. 

Nino explained to our group the different levels and qualities of tea and how valuable that industry has been to China, reaching the heights of white tea drinkers who reserve tables ahead of time to the more common black tea. I somehow got the impression that this aspect of the Chinese garden was more informal than tea ceremony room in the Japanese garden, where there is a solitary small room dedicated to the ceremony. On the other hand, it seemed that the intended goal for the ceremony is to reach a state or relaxation, and this was highlighted by Nino quoting the Japanese phrase, "ichi-go ichi-e " which she explained meant to "savor this life," and "to make the most of the moment." The many wood carved panels found in the Chinese garden were in slight contrast to the more simple designs of the buildings found on the Japanese side, though I might be mistaken by this observation. What Prof. Dube pointed out on our bus ride home also became more crystalized in my mind, a rock or Zen garden could be found in the Japanese garden while the Chinese lacked this detail though there were plenty of rocks to enjoy and see. Nino, our guide, also mentioned how Japanese priest that lived far away from the sea or from bodies of water would make rock gardens as a way to meditate. She mentioned how priest make wooden rakes with teeth of different widths and lengths. As the priest "rakes" or "plows" the tiny pebbles they meditate and allow their feelings to make water scenes with lines that look like waves, a flow of a river or ripples of water. What stood out to me was the penjing and bonsai landscapes. Though both are very similar there were quite distinct, with the Chinese miniature landscapes being more elaborate and rendered.

Now, to the question on how can this be embedded into a lesson, and in my case, for middle school students?

In 7th grade students spend some time studying the Song dynasty and how commerce flourished. Building on this threat of information, I would focus on gardens and how learned people, government officials, and merchants built their gardens as a way of relaxation. I’d start with a warm up question, which my students regularly do when they come into class. I’d project a question, in this case: Describe the perfect relaxing place or a place that you like to go to relax. Is there a place or places where we go with our families to enjoy or selves, to relax and to forget about work or homework? Is it better to relax in a room or in the outdoors? Why or why not?  Describe your perfect relaxing moment or a moment where you just forget about everything and just chill. Where would that be? Who would you be with? Why? What would you want to do there? Then I’d have students share in their groups for a few minutes before calling on them. After that I’d talk about the gardens that people made during the Song dynasty. I'd probably bring different kinds of green and black teas and let the students touch the different kinds of teas. I'd encourage them to smell the different varieties as well. I'd ask them to tell me why tea drinking might have been popular during the Song dynasty and why would people want to drink it in their gardens. In addition to that, I'd be building on the different motifs that could be found in these gardens, like wood panels with pine tree, bamboo and plum blossom designs.

Introducing students to Japanese gardens could be done by bringing in a small version of a rock garden and explaining to students how Zen masters meditate in these gardens that the practical aspects of having a rock garden as opposed to a regular garden. I’d also highlight bonsai trees and if possible bring one into the classroom so that students could see for themselves what a bonsai tree looks like. Bonzai trees and comparing them to the Chinese form of penjing would give them a great opportunity to compare and contrast both forms of miniature landscapes.

After having studied these topics students would then go on a field trip, like the Huntington Library to see for themselves what Chinese and Japanese gardens look like. If that were not possible then projecting photos to students of these two types of gardens would done. Ideally, such lessons ought to culminate in a visit to a museum or in this case the Huntington Library where students take at least 10-20 notes. Once back in the class students could write a reflection on what they saw, and compare and contrast the differences and similarities. Maybe giving them questions like, which garden seemed extravagant? Which one do you think would be easier to maintain? If you were a scholar or warrior what type of garden would you have and why? How would you design your own garden? I might even give them a sheet of paper where they design their own garden using the plants available to our own geography. This might be a good opportunity for my students to talk to their parents and ask them about what types of flowers and plants they would have or the types of trees they’d include. Would they have a pond or rocks? An artificial river? Turtles?

The tour to Huntington Gardens was a wonderful learning experience about Asia culture. In the Chinese culture the round columns, windows, tables represent the universe. On the other hand, the square shape of the buildings walls, chairs, gardens boundaries, flat fences design meeting at 90⁰ degrees angle, represent hearth. Therefore, entering the building one can imagine that is going to see the representation of the universe and the earth.

The similarities of Path way were a long strip of pave ways connected each other in a certain point. The differences are on the design and hand-craft of each other. The multiple path ways in the garden represents the opportunity to choose which way to take there as well as the opportunities that one has in life.

When visitors observe the work that is display, it seems that they transport to another time (epoch) and place in time. It seems like for a moment they go out their present reality to another to return in a few seconds. They stop, concentrate, look at it, then continue or talk about what they are seeing. It is the opposite of going to a mall where people do not need to concentrate on a subject or going to the past.

The designer had in mind to convey to us in a little piece of land, how it is in China now and then. The rocks, stones and other materials used to construct each unit, were brought directly from China, if that is the case on each uni.

Mr. Lau, our guide, did an excellent job telling us about the different designs and colors found in this tour to Huntington Gardens. The pointing arcs at the end of each corner, on top of the buildings, represent protection, security and discourage evil spirits from coming into the house. The Garden achieves it balance with the dark and light colors used on the floor. With respect to the shape, the curves and straight lines, the circles and the square in the small buildings walls, and fences shows the smoothly transition from one form to another creating a beautiful balance displayed in the garden.

For the past 3,000 years, everyone in China, from emperors and government officials to scholars and poets, have built their own Chinese gardens. 

Chinese gardens are constructed to recreate and miniaturize larger natural landscapes. Traditionally, Chinese gardens blend unique, ornate architectures with natural elements. Just like we saw from Huntington library park, traditional Chinese garden contains architectures, like a buildings or pavilions; decorative rocks and a rock garden; plants, trees and flowers, like bamboo and pine trees; and water elements, like ponds and waterfalls. Most Chinese gardens are enclosed by a wall and some have winding paths. Chinese gardens are not just thrown together, but they are deliberately designed.  Visitors should walk through them in the particular order that the garden was laid out.

Chinese Garden is a good topic for teaching Chinese culture. I will show some supportive pictures to show the characteristics  of traditional Chinese garden like Chinese traditional architectures, Chinese Characters, and poems. From learning Chinese garden students can learn Chinese language and Chinese civilization better.

Visiting the gardens at the Huntington made me reflect on the coming Spring and the beauty of gardens in Japan.  During this time of year, the temperature would get warmer and cold and arid winter would be a distant memory.  Japanese would break out their Spring clothes, which are welcoming change from the thick winter clothes. There would be smart phone apps and websites that would forecast to the exact tree in a spedific park that were blooming cherry blossoms.  Most gardens would be filled with families and friends picnicing under the blooming cherry blossom trees. Companies often send out their employees to reserved the best and scenic views in parks and gardents fpr their after-work drink parties.  

Eventhough, the Japanese Garden at the Huntington lacks the colors of true Japanese's Spring, it made me nostalgic of the two Sakura seasons I spent in Japan.

There were no reading for session 5, however, there was a notation page, where we are supposed to write about the Gardens at the Huntington Library, and so here are my thoughts; this place is beautiful, and so exquisite, I would live to live here; however, this writing is not about me but rather about the gardens. First and foremost the docent we had in our group was excellent. She was so knowledgeable and informative about the Gardens. It was obvious she liked what she does. I commend her for her time and effort in volunteering as a docent to the Huntington Library.

Before today, I have been to the Huntington Library gardens, but today was much more different. In the past I had just walked around, read the information placards and enjoyed the sights and smells of these gardens, Today, because I/.we had a docent it made it much more different and interesting, as I learned many different facts and information about the Japanese and Chinese cultures in regards to their gardens, their meditations, and their likes of tea. I also learned a little about their housing/s, For instance the Chinese built their teahouses so that wherever you sit you can have a view of the outdoors, whereas the Japanese, built and locate their homes accordingly to natures resources, like where they would get the most lighting in certain places, as they did/do not, did not have electricity back then.

I learned that the Japanese tend to have rocks in their gardens, but that the Chinese do not. Also there seems to be differences in their homes. It seemed to me that the Chinese have a bit more furniture and knick knacks. But the Japanese seem to have more scarcity. The Japanese homes seem like they have only what the need, and they make use of their available space by taking out only what they need at certain times, (as our docent mentioned).  There was so much information about this garden, for instance that the windows in the Chinese garden all had a different design to them. Had it not been mentioned I don’t think I would have noticed this detail.

Our time allotted in these gardens, was quite short when there is so much to see, learn about and simple just enjoy the moment at ones leisure.  It is sort of practicing our ZEN, just like the Japanese.  But I truly enjoyed my time at the Huntington Library’s Gardens, and I thank the seminar sponsors and the NCTA also, as without their support this trip would probably have not been possible. I also thank Mr. Dube and Ms. Catherine for making this field trip possible. 

For the record I also want to add that at first I thought that we were to drive to USC as usual, park, listen to lectures until 11:00a.m., get our lunch and then have to drive to the Huntington Library Garden on our own.  Pay for our entrance fee,(not that I would of minded), and then drive back to USC and finish off any remaining time. , “Lo and Behold”, we got a ride to and from, our entrance fee was paid for, I received a ton of information, what could be better than this!

If this was mentioned earlier in the first or second sessions, I apologize, as I was not present for those two sessions, but I was truly flabbergasted, by today’s generosity. Thanks again USC China Institute.

I really enjoyed going to the Huntington Collection as well as seeing the different gardens compared side by side each other. The docent first brought us to the European garden, which is full of wide open spaces with statues of people erected on the perimeter. Nature is kept tame in the center and pushed towards the outside to allow for people to sit and play. This is very different from the Chinese garden, which is built around nature itself. The docent had mentioned that Chinese gardens generally try to put bridges and roads on the perimeter rather than consume aspects of nature. This partially reflects the ideology of daoism. Chinese gardens erect large stones instead of people and allow you to see multiple facets of nature within one view. As you look across the pond, you can see fish swimming, the wind blowing through the trees and the white rocks on the side all within one view. The idea of view is something that strongly contrasts the Japanese garden, which doesn’t allow you to see everything within one view. Something unique about the Japanese garden is that it is built in walls and boundaries. There is a garden for bonsai trees and a separate one for stones. The docent had mentioned that the Japanese believed in nature being the centerpiece of their gardens (like the Chinese), but that the Japanese focused on taming and upkeeping nature to fit their liking. Bonsai trees are cut routinely and stones are pushed into the shapes of curves and waves. I very much anticipate returning to the collection again to take a look at these gardens again as well as the rest of the collection.

I found the differences between the planning of the Japanese and Chinese gardens interesting. The historical context of creating the gardens had an enormous impact on the design. The Japanese garden did not feel authentic after learning its history. If I understood correctly, the Japanese garden was created by Americans and is not a perfect replica of the Japanese style garden. The garden was expanded over time, and did not have an original blueprint. I was a little disappointed about this, but now I see it as more authentically Californian, a mix of cultures (trying to find a positive spin). The Chinese garden, on the other hand, was planned down to the rocks themselves. This garden is very authentic in design. I was a little disturbed to learn that stones were imported from China. I wonder what the ecological impact is when you remove tons of stones from a natural body of water. While it is important to design the garden to replicate Chinese architecture, I do not think it is necessary to bring stones from Asia. In my opinion, it is better to work with what is available locally. It seems that both gardens have led me to reflect on the authenticity of design.