Have viewed the photos in this album several times since it was posted but just didn't respond because wanted it to stay on top. How interesting to see photos of a beautiful and far away country. EP

I was in Beijing in late May and have pictures of some of these places. We took lots of garden pics. I was lucky because my in-laws took me to many places that would not normally be visited by Westerners. Beautiful country.

Hi Herb
Did you take phtos while you are in China ?.........mike

Hi, Mike,

No, alas, they aren't my pictures. I just happened to come across somebody else's album on the Internet.

Herb

Hi Herb,
I only looked at the first photo in the album that you linked us to and my first emotion when I enlarged the photo was " contrived" , as in forced and out of context with the courtyard surroundings .

It feels like this a sculpture in bondage.
That dinky little fence corralling that gigantic stone .

This composition did not speak to my sence of aesthetics.
But it sure is a badass stone !

Hi Mich!

It certainly can't be mistaken for a Japanese garden! I like both the Japanese and Chinese styles, despite their differences. To me, Japanese gardens are subtle, exquisite, subdued and almost spiritual, whereas Chinese ones are bold and exude a powerful impression of supreme (and well-justified) confidence.

Vancouver, B.C. is lucky - it has a superb example of each - the Nitobe Japanese Garden in the grounds of UBC and the Sun Yat Sen Garden in Chinatown.

Herb

In scenic Salem, Massachusetts, the courtyard of the Peabody Essex Museum has a big, honkin' "scholar stone" like that. It came from the bottom of a lake in Suzhou, as well.

Getting up close to a behemoth like that, full of pits and holes and Escher-esque angles and curves, is a mind-altering experience.