Yin and Yang at Vancouver’s Dr Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden, Vancouver, Canada

In 2011 a National Geographic publication named it the top city garden in the world. That’s quite a claim but, stepping into the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden from the bustling heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown, I could see why. It was like walking into a painting, every element carefully positioned. And, like all good Chinese paintings, it was beautiful, calm and timeless.

Opened in time for Vancouver’s Expo 86, the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden was the first of its kind to be built outside China. It is a traditional scholar’s garden, of a kind found in the Ming Dynasty, an era when harmony in the home and the garden were essential to a scholar’s work and existence. The garden embodies the principles of yin and yang, with a perfect balance between light and dark, indoor and outdoor, rough and smooth. The individual elements – architecture, plants, rocks and water – work together to form a whole. And every feature, even the rocks and gravel, has been carefully chosen for its symbolic or philosophical significance. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).