Chinese Garden of Friendship

A Chinese garden is an idealised landscape which is meant to express the balance and harmony that should exist between human beings and Mother Nature. Usually they were built for Chinese emperors or imperial family with pleasure goals but also as a way to escape the real world.

Entrance

A lot of different meanings can be linked to Chinese gardens, in fact they are a place for artists to find inspiration, for people who were after a quite place. they were also a place used for celebration but mostly the had a philosophical message too. Chinese Gardens were usually influenced by Taoism and its ideals. For Taoist people enlightenment could be reached by contemplation of the unity of creation, in which order and harmony are inherent to the natural world even in opposite elements. We could analyse all this in a Chinese garden, for example in the coexistence of rocks and water, considered as a Ying an Yang by taoism, different but completing each other.

Different elements coexisting

Rocks and Waterfall

The Chinese garden of friendship was opened in Sydney in the 1988 symbolising the bond between China and Australia. Situated in the heart of the Darling Harbour it embraced the purest meaning of the taoist philosophy, balance between opposite: nature and men, nature and city.

Nature and City

Entrance of the temple

Filled with beautiful bamboo plants and waterfalls, the garden has a lot of different features. An example could be the Dragon Wall, symbolising the bond between NSW and the Chinese province of Guangdong, Syndey’s sister city. Everything in the garden has been placed following the “five elements”, another taoist principle: wood, fire, earth, water and metal.

different elements together

Stolling through the garden helps achieving a balance of Ying and Yang and promote the flow of the QI, the central force of life and energy. Tours are held three times per day about different topics with an entrance cost of only 6$ and any of them will teach you about the cultural heritage of the garden.

Chinede corridor

Main temple