In late September, coinciding with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) unveiled a new addition to its Bridgewater Garden near Manchester: a classical Chinese Scholar’s Garden. Situated within the garden’s Chinese-themed section, this project represents a significant intercultural collaboration between the RHS, the city of Yangzhou in China, and the China Flower Association.

Since Bridgewater Garden’s original opening in 2021, it has drawn substantial public interest, attracting over one million visitors by its second year. The site already features diverse thematic areas, including kitchen gardens and a Paradise Garden designed in an Islamicate style by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith. The addition of a Chinese Scholar’s Garden was initially met with some skepticism by RHS staff and observers, who worried it might clash stylistically with the existing landscape or replicate stereotypical elements such as brightly lacquered structures adorned with dragons and mythical creatures.

To avoid these clichés, Marcus Chilton-Jones, head of Bridgewater Garden, and Tracy Snell, its expert curator, traveled to China on a reconnaissance mission to identify a garden style that would harmonize with the site’s environment. Their visit focused on Yangzhou, a historic city known for its classic scholar gardens, which emphasize inward-looking, enclosed courtyard designs framed by grey kiln-fired bricks and tiled roofs rather than the more flamboyant imperial styles. This restrained approach was seen as suitable for Bridgewater’s hillside location.

The project was initiated in 2017 when the RHS began planning a series of botanical plantings representing different global flora zones. The “oriental” zone evolved into a focus on China following a major philanthropic offer by Lee Kai Hung, a businessman with longstanding ties to Manchester’s Chinese community. Lee pledged significant funding from his family charitable foundation, initially £500,000 and subsequently two additional gifts of £1.8 million each. Building materials, including authentic timber, tiles, and bricks, were donated by Yangzhou city and transported to the UK in 20 containers.

Lee formed a Chinese Streamside Garden Founding Committee and appointed Kui Man Gerry Yeung, an intermediary with long-standing connections to Lee and Manchester’s Chinese community, to oversee communications and coordination. The collaboration involved remote meetings, often early in the morning to bridge the time difference, and included the input of trained Chinese gardeners and a “mountain master” sent from Yangzhou to oversee construction details and ensure authenticity.

The garden features a newly created lake, Moon Bridge Water, surrounded by plantings suited to damp conditions, including several Primula species and native Chinese willows. A bamboo grove near the top of the hill showcases varieties such as the Red Panda bamboo (Fargesia), known for its sunlight-responsive cane color. The rectangular courtyard walls, designed to evoke Yangzhou’s classic scholar gardens, are softened with thoughtfully chosen trees and climbers, while the main entry area displays an array of carefully arranged plants.

The planting palette draws on traditional Ming dynasty scholar garden flora, including magnolias, peonies, Prunus mume, and sophora trees, but also incorporates modern cultivars such as the scented ‘Kleim’s Hardy’ gardenia and the ‘Green Lace’ maple imported from the Netherlands. Rocks with characteristic holes and fissures were sourced from a lake near Yangzhou to enhance authenticity. A steep path leads visitors to Ellesmere Lake, lined with anemones, primulas, hostas, and trees like Liquidambar taiwanensis, which is suited for warmer climates.

While the Bridgewater garden is the first of its kind in Britain to involve Chinese master gardeners directly, it is not the first outside China. Similar collaborations include the Jardin Yili near Paris, inspired by Suzhou scholar gardens, and the expansive Chinese garden at the Huntington Library in California, also modeled on Suzhou. Here, the principle of bringing together cultural traditions through garden design is emphasized as a form of cross-cultural dialogue.

The garden also features a scholar’s library along a walkway, currently empty but intended to serve as a quiet retreat reflecting the introspective lifestyle traditionally associated with Ming scholars, who valued poetry, calligraphy, music, and contemplation. Organizers anticipate it becoming a sanctuary for visitors to reflect on how gardens can foster cultural exchange rather than segregation.

Overall, the Yangzhou Scholars’ Garden at RHS Garden Bridgewater represents a carefully conceived blend of authentic Chinese garden design principles and local environmental conditions, realized through international cooperation and philanthropic support. It offers visitors an immersive experience into the historic cultural landscape of Chinese scholarly tradition while complementing the diverse horticultural displays at Bridgewater.