Landmark Chinese garden takes root in England

SALFORD, England — After nearly eight years in the making, a Chinese garden that authorities describe as the largest of its kind in Europe has opened in Salford, bringing a distinctive Chinese presence to the horticultural landscape of northern England.

At the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Bridgewater, traditional Chinese walls, timber pavilions, rockwork and water come together in the Chinese Streamside Garden, which covers more than 2.8 hectares.

Its centerpiece, the Yangzhou Scholars' Garden, draws on the classical gardens of Yangzhou in East China's Jiangsu province, with four pavilions representing the traditional scholarly arts of music, Go, calligraphy and painting. Chinese craftspeople used traditional techniques including mortise-and-tenon joinery, brickwork and stone carving in its construction.

Deciding what kind of Chinese garden would work in this particular corner of England took time. Tracy Snell, curator at RHS Garden Bridgewater, said the team visited gardens in China before settling on the design.

"Each had its own beauty, but the garden at Bridgewater also needed to work with the existing woodland, planting and character of the wider site," she said, adding that the aim was to create a garden that was clearly Chinese while sitting naturally within its English surroundings.

During the opening ceremony of the garden on Friday, Chinese and British representatives jointly planted a willow as a friendship tree, whose parentage traces to China and Britain.

Marcus Chilton-Jones, head of site at RHS Garden Bridgewater, said the tree was a fitting symbol for a garden shaped by years of cooperation between the two sides.

He also pointed to a local connection: the name "Salford" derives from the Old English "Sealhford", meaning a ford by willow trees.

Willows have long been a familiar motif in Chinese painting and classical gardens, and remain a common feature in contemporary urban landscaping across China.

Robin Garrido, ceremonial mayor of Salford, said the willow represented "peace and well-being" as well as the cooperation between China and Britain.

"RHS Garden Bridgewater attracts large numbers of visitors each year, and the new garden would give people in Salford and elsewhere in Britain the chance to experience Chinese garden culture closer to home," he said.

Chinese Consul General in Manchester Tang Rui said the project overcame difficulties, including cross-border coordination and differences in construction standards.

The efforts had brought to Salford "a traditional Chinese garden that is the largest in Europe, the most complete in its overall design and the most authentic in its architecture", while "turning classical Eastern aesthetics from drawings into reality and allowing the British public to get close to Chinese culture without traveling far", he said.

The opening also coincided with Mid-Autumn Festival. "It truly is a case of 'good things coming in pairs'," Tang said.

RHS Garden Bridgewater opened in 2021 on the 62-hectare site of the historic Worsley New Hall estate in Salford. The Chinese garden project began in 2019, a year after members of Greater Manchester's Chinese community joined the RHS to develop plans for the garden.

Clare Matterson, director-general of the RHS, described the project as a "true partnership", combining Chinese craftsmanship with British horticultural and landscape expertise. She noted that many plants now familiar in British gardens originally came from China.

"The garden will also form part of the RHS' practical work on climate resilience, helping horticulturists consider which plants grown today will be best suited to the conditions of the future," she said.

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