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| | Five Elements | Portland Classical Chinese Garden |
 | | Rather than imitate nature, the Chinese gardener tries to recreate an ideal landscape in miniature with mountains, lakes, trees, and their qi, or energy, and to incorporate man’s place within nature. |
 | | The Chinese word for landscape, shan shui, means literally “mountains and water”; and a common phrase for making a garden, again translated literally, is “digging ponds and piling mountains.” Water and stone are therefore important elements in the creation of a garden. |
 | | By combining the five elements of stone, water, architecture, literature and the arts, and plants, we can experience within the garden the essential balance between humanity and nature. |
| www.portlandchinesegarden.org /awakening/orchids/info/C6 (1025 words) |
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