Roadside Adventures; 404; The Chinese Gardens of Montreal

Hundreds of years ago during the Ming Dynasty in China there were lovely gardens for the use of the Emperor's gardens for Buddhist monks and private guards for the very wealthy. But there were no marks or guards or the common folk. Today however in Montreal the cannibal Guard there is a Chinese garden for all created by Chinese architects. Guard and craftsman in

China then dismantled and packed into hundreds of boxes and shipped to Montreal the Chinese garden of Montreal is a faithful replication of a private garden from the Ming Dynasty. We'll meet Queen who works here and he'll take us on a tour pointing out the fascinating yet subtle harmonies at work in this marvelous place that even has a very special name. So join us at 3:00. The late Dark Knight roadside adventure. Production of roadside adventures is made possible in part by VIA Rail Canada via rail operates passenger trains year round in all regions of Canada

spanning the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay and by guide boat realty located in Saranac Lake the heart of the Adirondacks providing services to buyers and sellers of Adirondack properties meeting your needs every step of the way. Realty your guide to Adirondack real estate and buying northern car crushers a division of George Moore truck and cooperation in New York and by the contributing members of mountain lake PBS who appreciate quality programming. Hello

and welcome to another edition of Road side adventures. If you watch our program regularly and I hope you do you would have noticed a few months back when we came to the Montreal botanical gardens in the dead of winter and took a tour of their fabulous greenhouses. What a great thing to do in the middle of winter warm tropical breezes desert plants it was fabulous. I hope you saw that show. But we had to come back to the Montreal Botanical Gardens because there is another amazing exhibit here and it's summertime finally. So I got my shorts on and I'm ready to show you the Chinese gardens. Now Exhibit coordinator me Quinn has promised us. A really detailed tour of one of the best exhibits in all of Montreal. So come on and I'll introduce her to you

and we'll head on through the Chinese Gardens a descending the staircase as I dream is over. How are you doing you. It's nice to see you. How contradictory in that garden. THANK YOU I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS. Now I know that a Chinese garden is full of symbolism and imagery right and no exception even here at the open in the entrance you have two lines always in the entrance to be exchanged only I don't see in the entrance to put takes the entrance so in those lines you have a female and a male so it means the yin and the yang and the yang one you can weaken eyes with the baby under the pole the DML one is the ball. So where I live and everywhere in the Chinese garden even the Emperor God and you can recognize those kind of are you most indifferent which protects the entrance. OK now there's a sign overhead and you said earlier that that's the name of the guard. Yeah I name again is who

actually moans. I mean it's really him. Who are your legs right or left your right course. Yes the first and that is what it means. Dream who is late and UN is garden so does the name of the Chinese garden is there can we see it. Yes of course you're welcome to. Thank you sir. This is the treasure road you had just stepped over it to have a look and if I stepped on it would be bad luck. While yes stepping over to look. Yes just what they're saying. I've had a couple real bad. OK OK well that's a lesson we all feel so much better. This is lovely What is this this is the entrance courtyard. And this is exactly the way it would be in a private garden. This is the main entrance courtyard. Everything you see as material is coming from Shanghai directly.

Wait a minute all of this was done in Shanghai. Yes I know everything is precut you know wash up in Shanghai and bring it here into 100 20 containers and at that time Shanghai sent a 50 craftsman's 50 craftspeople came over everything here and saw us in 1991 and in front of your can you can see a fresco. That's a beautiful mural on the wall is a stone carving and right the left over the oh yes. So you have a poetry symbolize Montreal and then the grounds symbolizing Chinese people bring friendship to Canada. Very nice That's very impressive. And then you walk through this beautiful oval here into the rest of the garden. Why is that round. Well is the door. It

is very important in Chinese culture and this church there. And so the first one is entrance and the second one is fascinated. Why is that. Because Chinese garden is a garden and so you just go on it. It is I'm being pulled right through this entrance. This is wonderful. That was

spectacular. This is just beautiful and it's ever changing all season long isn't it. Yes is very spectacular garden is set to appoint five acres to have yes with a sex pervert Yes and bait and pawn and they're late. But this bridge this particular bridge is in a zigzag shape. McQueen Why is that. According to Chinese Asian believes every spare it goes in straight lines. Bad spirits always travel in straight lines so looked down and saw that we have to be able to see exactly where it is so not having them with us. So the evil spirits can't get into the garden. No. So is it important you know to walk in is it necessary for you. I need all the help I can get. And yeah.

All those elements like and even more so. Yeah. That's a good reason to build it. Yes. Another lovely one is water so important in the Chinese garden. All the reflections and the water and so the garden looks more bigger

than yours and it actually makes the Chinese garden appear larger than it actually is. Yeah and also being principal and walks are yang principle. Yes so you can trust Yang and yang together creates harmony and serenity because in nature contrasts and so you have a rocks just from the water that creates so and the harmonies and the more contrast the more you in the garden the more peaceful garden. Yes this is the principle. Yeah when when I come to see the gardens the Chinese gardens do I have to pay an extra fee of the cost of getting into the Canticle gardens to see this.

Well no you'll just pay one fees to the Nicole garden and every site that you can visit is include everything in the gallery says that open yes the green house is literally in your garden. Everything now I notice that this structure you see yeah is on the highest piece of ground in any other city in the garden is there a significance to that. Yes of course actually the highest point because it is like a temple for the family this is a private good I mean God they would have had their own. Yes. And a parka and with pagoda into true stories. And here we are using the exhibition hall also that time back to dynasty. It was only a private temple for the family who goes there to pray for the sisters. And so this is the vocations of this pavilion. So in the Ming Dynasty what deity would they pray

to. Our hold in honor is. Yeah Buddha Buddha would exist in this temple. Yes for the family yes. So very very holy place in the private bar yeah. And boy what a beautiful spot that is. And that was that was built in China and brought here was yes this pavilion is called The Cloud the condensing cloud. Yes rain. That's marvelous. Beautiful just beautiful. Now I want to ask you about waterfalls but you've got blue water. And you were telling me earlier that water and water.

Really important to the Chinese garden man. Oh yes because says because in the Chinese garden is actually from punctuate ashtray. Me is when rain is water and every actions and things pass to coal through this kind of study. So is everything in the garden is according to the perfect balance. What are some examples of what is involved to help kill today to make the entrails the pervy the bitches and the mountains. For example all the engines off face assault. They do over and over there in the many mountains in the north to protect their wings and then so as the sunset you can see all the this Mountains reflecting in the

water. So is the balance in our study of balance of the nature and the sawdust. The Chinese garden. So they just aren't put here because it looks good there. They're put here. All of nature has been brought into this even where the sun rises yet where the sun set Yes that is artists and that's perfect balance yes. And that's called punctuate Yes. Wow I'm impressed. Really really. Some

days Jenny queen and others who have perfected traditional Chinese musical masterpieces come to play them in the garden here. Shen Queen plays the traditional two stringed instrument created over seven hundred years ago. The music is hauntingly beautiful and like the butterfly it soars out above the plants and people temples and bridges of the garden. Her music also drifts over the nearby walls which houses another surprise of the Chinese garden. The springtime courtyard with its stunning display of miniature trees snipped and tamed into tiny worlds. Cold

bones are in Japanese the Chinese word for these marvelous displays of masterful cultivation is penned to the botanical art form has been practiced in China for centuries. Each of these are very small and in most cases very old trees can take the entire lifetime of the gardener to create before passing it on to another pen doing artists. Some of these trees can last three or four times the lifespans of as many gardeners. They are the perfect example in miniature of the Chinese concept of function way. The recognition by humans of the perfect balance within the natural world. Different plant species.

And always something always something and people are always working here the gardeners. Is it OK to ask questions. Yes of course. That's right and everything is very well. There's a lot of creatures on the billiards and the other stuck animals

very important both real and mythical in the Chinese culture. Yes actually in Chinese architecture there's a lot of creatures as you see in this size you have to imagine dragons. Yes and Dragons is very important in the Chinese culture and it symbolizes power and also reports because they spread water to save us of fire but I don't want to say no you're doing fine. I get it you see because in the in the European tradition we think back fire breathing dragon and your dragons come along and spread out why water on fire. Yeah. So they're protecting. Yeah they are pitting protecting against fire against fire. So by putting dragons on the buildings you protect the building from catching on fire. Yes. Well I'm really impressed. I want to thank you so much for having me.

It's just great. And I learned so much about Chinese culture Chinese religion Chinese architecture Chinese history all in two point five years and hope you enjoy. I will and I'll come back in the fall because I want to see the land. Through the ages all great civilizations celebrated the intellectual and ethnic values of their culture through their art including the ancient art of designing and cultivating their private as well as their public gardens. And no question about it. The Chinese have transformed their cultural

values into a celebration of nature. The very essence of what all people's first fear then ultimately came to worship since the dawn of man. The Chinese gardens of Montreal's but panicle Gardens was a gift from the people of China to the people of Canada. But it is much more than that for this stunning example of perfect harmony is shared with every visitor who takes the time to come and appreciate the nuances at work here or as me Queen described it the yang and yang the balance of man as a part of nature. And what better place is there to be literally folded into and appreciate such an ancient and wise culture than in the largest Chinese garden in the western world.

Production of roadside adventures is made possible in part by VIA Rail Canada via rail operates passenger trains year round in all regions of Canada spanning the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to Hudson Bay and by Guy boat located in Saranac Lake the heart of the Adirondacks providing services to buyers and sellers of Adirondack properties meeting your needs every step of the way. Realty your guide to Adirondack real estate and buy Northern car crushers a division of George Moore truck and Equipment Corporation in New York and by the contributing members of mountain lake PBS who appreciate quality programming. Well that's it that's all the time we have for

this edition of roadside adventures a trip to the Chinese gardens at the Botanical Gardens in Montreal. And while you're here visiting the Chinese gardens just popped through the hedge and enjoy this right next door. A whole new world in the Japanese garden at the Botanical Gardens of Montreal for videographer Chris nettle on during neared saying Thanks for watching and we'll see you again when we head out down the road in search of another roadside adventure. Hi Lou. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. For

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