A special treasure within the Botanical Garden is the Chinese Garden Qian Yuan, a classical southern Chinese scholar's garden donated to the Ruhr University in 1990 by our partner university, the Tongji University of Shanghai.
When this fragile construction turned out to have suffered severe damage from our harsh climate within a few years, the Chinese Garden Society was founded in 2000 to prevent the imminent razing of the building and to collect donations for its renovation. After the Garden was reopened in October 2001 the Society remained in existence and now pursues two important goals:
- to keep an eye open for new structural damage and to organize and assist in financing necessary repairs and maintenance work in coordination and cooperation with the Botanical Garden;
- to acquaint the public with the Chinese Garden and its affairs by means of guided tours and other cultural events.
Guided Tours
Now that pandemic restrictions are easing up, we are offering our public guided tours of the Chinese Garden again, assuming it is still allowed on the day of the tour. As a precaution (since the pandemic is not really over), participants must wear FFP2 masks and we shall limit participation to 15 people per tour by giving out free tickets just before the tours start. However we shall try to offer two tours on each date, with only a short delay between them.
The guided tours start at 3 pm on the third Saturday of the months May through August. So this year only one tour remains on August 20 (but of course we will be continuing these tours next year).
For several months now our Society has had a well maintained presence on Instagram. The account chinesischergarten_bochum has over 250 subscribers and new photographs are constantly being posted. When you can't arrange to visit the Chinese Garden in person, this is a good alternative way to experience its flair and inhale its atmosphere.
The creation of the Chinese Garden, as told by the architect
In the German-Chinese book Qian Yuan – Chinesische Gartenkunst in Bochum, the architect Prof. Zhang Zhenshan lets us partake of his thoughts while designing the Chinese Garden all the way through to its completion. Numerous drawings, explanations and fascinating details are complemented by stirring photographs. With great charm the book imparts well-founded insights into the art and philosophy of Chinese gardens.
The Society has purchased the remainder of this edition and the book is for sale at the reduced price of 10 Euros, either at the Campus Shop (Unishop) in the lobby of the administration building of the Ruhr University (Building UV) or from the secretariat of the Botanical Garden. Mail orders can only be filled by the Botanical Garden for an additional 5 euros for postage.
Flyer
Our flyer about the Chinese Garden and the Society (unfortunately only available in German) was last updated in 2014. You can download it below and either read it on the screen or print it out double-sided on a DIN A4 sheet and fold it into thirds parallel to the shorter side to obtain the original format.
To comply with the European General Data Protection Regulation, the membership application contained in the flyer can no longer be accepted. If you would like to become a member (which would please us very much), please download the current version, in German, via the link in the right-hand column.
