Tea & Poetry

Lan Su Chinese Garden presents Tea & Poetry at Lan Su, a month long series of events and activities celebrating poetry, tea, and tea arts.

All tea comes from the same plant —  Camellia sinensis — but, depending on its preparation and where it grows, it can produce radically different flavors. Green, black and white tea all come from the Camellia sinensis plant. The camellia is arguably the most famous of all Chinese plants, as it is the main source of tea. Learn more about the cultivation of tea, different varieties and the role of tea in Chinese culture with talks, demonstrations and more throughout the month.

According to Chinese tradition, garden landscape without poetry is not complete. Luckily, Lan Su is graced with a wealth of poetic inscriptions! Chinese gardens in China and Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland are filled with poetic inscriptions as text, calligraphy, engravings and plaques. Poetry is one of the five elements, along with rocks, architecture, water, and plants, necessary for a comprehensive Chinese garden and is often presented in the form of the calligraphic inscriptions painted on horizontal and vertical plaques or carved into stone. Learn about the poetry in Lan Su Chinese Garden as well as the historical and aesthetic traditions of poetry in Suzhou-style Chinese gardens with workshops, tours, and poetry series featuring local and regional poets all month long! 

Poetry Arch

In Lan Su Chinese Garden, there is poetry everywhere — carved into rocks, inside and outside buildings. Many are two-lined poems called couplets. These couplets often describe nature and aspects of the garden. Visitors are invited to write their own couplet to add to the Poetry Arch on display in the garden during Tea & Poetry Month at Lan Su. Take inspiration from the garden and create your own couplet! 

Included free with Lan Su membership or admission; no registration required. See a full schedule of events in the garden at lansugarden.org/eventcalendar »

No visit is complete without a visit to the Teahouse

During a visit to Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Teahouse in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections offers visitors the ability to sit, relax, and enjoy tea while gazing into the garden. Operated by The Tao of Tea, the Teahouse pairs the beauty and symbolism of the garden with Chinese tea culture. As a part of the garden, admission or membership to Lan Su is required to access the Teahouse. Lan Su Chinese Garden members receive 10% off in the Teahouse.

Thin mist and flowing water share millennia of time;

Mountain hues and lake shimmers converge on one building.

Inscribed by Fei Zhixiong, Number Three Descendant of the Left-Handed, Suzhou

Mid-autumn, 1999

Shades of bamboo, layers of rock: dark is the pine's hue.

Slanted the path, crooked the stream: soft is the water's song.

Inscribed by Wang Jiansheng of Reverence Studio, Suzhou

Original translations sourced from Charles Wu's Listen to the Fragrance (2006)