"The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden":

Located in Chinatown at 578 Carrall Street, the garden has been open since 1986 & is the first full-scale Ming Dynasty Scholars Garden built outside of China. The Garden is a compact architectural maze of walls & courtyards, complimented by pavilions, halls, bridges & covered galleries. Scholar's gardens were the private domains of China's traditional elite, the literati or scholar/officials. They lived and worked in their gardens, sharing their enchanting spaces with friends and family.

The classical Chinese garden design of this garden is based on the harmony of four main elements - rock, water, plants, and architecture. Together, these four elements combine to create a breathtaking experience of perfect balance, yin and yang. The relationship of these four elements reflect the Taoist belief in Yin and Yang--opposites must be in balance in order to create harmony.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, known as the "Father of Modern China," is recognized for his central role in the history of modern China where he sought to bring democrat rule in the early 20th century. He visited Vancouver three times to raise funds in support of the revolution. Born into a peasant family in Guangdong Province in 1866, he was educated in Hawaii which exposed him to Western thought at an early age. Later, he left his medical career to devote himself to the cause of democracy. As China's first professional revolutionary, he traveled the world promoting the pro-democracy movement and raising funds. He is credited with leading the 1911 revolution that finally overthrew the Qing dynasty. He became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912, but resigned shortly after to devote his efforts to the economic development of China. Since his death in 1925, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's persona has evolved into an heroic symbol of modern China. He is known as Guo Fu, the Father of the Country. (He is also very popular in Penang Malaysia where there are a lot of Chinese people.)

More information at the garden’s web site, including a photo gallery: http://www.vancouverchinesegarden.com

"The Lingyen Mountain Buddhist Temple - expansion controversy:"

A proposed C$50 million dollar expansion to the temple which would transform it into a pivotal North American religious center & lure pilgrims from around the world, has met with much controversy & opposition from the local community. Temple officials say that an expansion is necessary to meet the demands of the temple, which is currently short of space - the existing hall held only 400 people & they needed space for up to 5000. In addition to nine new buildings, the controversial element of the expansion was a 140 foot mega-building that would house a 100 foot gold-leaf statue of Buddha, making it the largest statue of Buddha in North America & the tallest indoor Buddha in the world.

The spectacle of a 10 storey high Buddha housed in a 14 storey building, dwarfing its neighbors, surrounded by a 700-stall parking lot bordering an agricultural reserve, had local residents who opposed the expansion referring to the project as a budding Buddhist Disneyland. The spectacle would draw millions of visitors, & not only would there be increased traffic, the temple would need more land for a much bigger parking lot, this from their Mennonite Church neighbors, which added to the controversy. The Mennonites later decided they were “not interested in helping the Buddhists construct a bigger platform for their faith” & decided to stay out of the game.

Although a later proposal still called for up to nine buildings, thereby tripling current space, the proposed Buddha statue has now been downsized, some say to about half, others to only 15 feet tall, the size of the temple’s current statue. I have not been able to determine if/when the expansion has been completed. I certainly didn’t see a giant Buddha statue there, nor a high rise hall to hold it.