[San Jose, CA] Chinese Cultural Garden

I find the best way to experience the Chinese Cultural Garden is by stepping through its Friendship Gate before seeing anything else of the garden. 

The Chinese Cultural Garden is a feature of a park, called the Overfelts Garden. It is located at the southeast side of the park. From the entranceway, about a hundred feet, you will see that the road will split into two. Choose the lane to your right. You will find Mildred Overfelts' house on your right, and on your left is a good size lake (the lake would either be dry or full depending on California's rains; if it's dry, than it will look like a grassy, large dip in the ground). Continue on this road and you will eventually come to a garden of tall palm trees to your left. There will also be a road that heads towards these palm trees. Take that road and continue onward where you will eventually come across the Friendship Gate. You can not miss it. It is quite large with the words "Chinese Cultural Garden" written near the top.

Once you have recovered by this magnificent sight, go ahead and walk through the gate. You, my friend, have entered the Chinese Cultural Garden.

This garden was founded by Frank and Pauline Lowe in 1971. Frank cherished both his Chinese Heritage as well as his adopted American homeland. He created this garden in hopes to create harmony and understanding between Eastern and Western Societies.

The first feature you will come across is a statue of Confucius. If you are unfamiliar on who Confucius is, he is a Chinese Teacher and Philosopher dating back to 551-479 BC. He is known to be one of the greatest educators of all time, alongside other great philosophers like Aristotle and Socrates. 

The Confucius Statue is located at the center of a beautiful pool of water, but due to the severity of California's drought in the past few years, the water feature has long been shut down. I can not wait until the water returns to this garden.

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There are two pavilions: The small Plum Pavilion and the Chiang Kai-Shek Pavilion. 

The Plum Pavilion is a small sitting structure that overlooks a little lake...or an empty lake at the moment..., but Chiang Kai-Shek Pavilion is a little bit more elaborate and grand. This pavilion pays tribute to Chiang Kai-Shek, who played an important role of the creation of The Republic of China. He was a political and military leader as well as a close ally to Sun Yat-Sen, who happened to have an entire palace dedicated to him in the garden.

Okay, it's not an actual palace. It's a small memorial building called the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. The exterior do look like a Chinese palace though and the interior is just as impressive.

So why such a grand memorial for a single man? Why, Sun Yet-Sen is the founding father of The Republic of China. In 1911, he was able to overthrow the last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi of the Manchu Aisin Gioro Clan. This brought the end of over 2,000 years of Dynasty Rule! 

If this Memorial did not hold enough history for you, check out the oldest object in the garden. The Black Stone. This massive rock is around a Million Years Old! This rock is actually from Tainan, Taiwan, one of San Jose's sister cities. It was gift of friendship. The Chinese Characters written on the  stone is pronounced "Jung How", and it translates to Loyalty.

Every year various Chinese Holidays are celebrated at this garden. One of their most popular is the Chinese Moon Festival that is celebrated in the month of September.

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This garden may be small but it is a great representation of Chinese Culture and its vast history. Mr. Lowe's vision to bring the East and the West Societies together in a peaceful setting is still working its magic today. Those that are curious about Chinese Culture are able to learn and view parts of it in a peaceful and beautiful environment. 

So come by and take a tranquil stroll among the shade of the garden's trees while taking in the beautiful, traditional pagoda structures of the Chinese Cultural Garden. It really is the highlight of Overfelts Garden, since the park has long gone downhill with the upkeep of the park.

Happy Wandering, Alice.