The Scroll - Lan Su Chinese Garden

Call for Submissions: 2026 Floral Design Showcase

From November 5-15, 2026, Lan Su Chinese Garden and PNW Florist Association will host the Chrysanthemum Festival Floral Design Showcase. Open to all floral designers and artists, the Floral Design Showcase is a juried floral show with each entry including chrysanthemums as a part of the display.
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Cultural Spotlight: Lotus Blossoms

From scientific fact to Chinese scholar idealism. Let’s explore the lotus, the flower that refuses to get dirty. This summer marks Lan Su Chinese Garden’s very first Lotus Festival. People have been asking us, “Why the lotus?“ The answer begins with something that surprises many visitors: Did you know Lan Su is the only public…
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Lan Su Chinese Garden Offers Free Admission and Special Tour to Oregon and Washington Educators August 1–16

Lan Su Chinese Garden is proud to partner with six other Portland-area museums to offer free admission and special programming for all Oregon and Washington educators from Saturday, August 1, through Sunday, August 16, 2026.
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Culture Spotlight: The Food Behind Every Dragon Boat Race

If you’re a Portlander, chances are you’ve seen — or even paddled in — one of our city’s popular dragon boat races each summer. But did you know there is a 2,300-year-old story and a famous rice snack behind those races? Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, communities across China…
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Meet Yun Shui Teahouse at TeaFestPDX 2026

Lan Su and Yun Shui will join TeaFestPDX on June 27, showcasing traditional Chinese tea experiences and new color-changing tea pets. Tickets available online now!
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Culture Spotlight: Tea in the Emperor’s Sleeve

Hello friend, While I am writing to you, I have just wrapped up a tea training with the talented tea masters of Lan Su’s Yun Shui Teahouse. During the training, one of our newly certified tea masters guided us through three rounds of tea. One of my favorite teas today was Dragon Well, or “Longjing”…
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Bloom Above the Waterline: Lotus Art Show

Lan Su Chinese Garden invites local artists to submit work for a group exhibition celebrating the lotus flower—蓮花 (lián huā)—as a powerful cultural, philosophical, and seasonal symbol. This exhibition will take place during peak summer bloom, when lotus flowers rise across the garden, mirroring the living subject of the show itself.
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Culture Spotlight: What You Don’t Know About the Monkey King

Lan Su Chinese Garden on Screen You might have visited Lan Su Chinese Garden, but did you know millions of viewers around the world may have already seen the garden on their TV screens? Later this month, Lan Su will become the first stop of the Oregon Film Trail in Portland, recognizing its appearances in…
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Culture Spotlight: Before You Watch the Movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

There are films you watch, and then there are films you carry with you. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍) is one I have been quietly carrying for years, a wuxia novel adapted into cinema with remarkable grace. At first glance, it dazzles with gravity-defying sword fights: bodies gliding across rooftops, drifting through bamboo forests, as…
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Culture Spotlight: From Carp to Dragon: A Garden Reflection on Aspiration and Transformation

Spring always feels like a reset button at Lan Su. The ponds brighten, the plants stretch awake, and our koi residents begin cruising around again after what looks, frankly, like a very luxurious winter nap. And this year? There are so many baby fish. In my entire 10 years at Lan Su, I do not…
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