DID you know that in the Chinese language the name for a bat and joy are the same. This is one the pieces of information we learned about from our speaker Duncan Combs on Tuesday, June 2.
Duncan was a lecturer at Pershore College and was fortunate to be invited to spend two weeks, on a tour of Chinese Gardens, courtesy of links formed when the college hosted a Chinese Student over twenty years ago.
His illustrated talk covered the Gardens of Eastern China both ancient and modern. His tour started in Beijing, where the winters are cold and dry and this reflected the pictures we were shown of Magnolias, Ornamental Peach Trees and Winter Jasmine which I am sure many of us have in our gardens. One amazing photograph was of a Gingko Tree which is reputed to be over two thousand years old.
Not being able to read Chinese did not hamper Duncan from finding out the names of the plants as they always had the Latin name of the plant on the label.
He travelled further afield to visit other Gardens which were equally impressive.
Getting back to the name for a bat and joy, one of the gardens displayed a mosaic of a circle of bats which signifies everlasting joy.
An Emperor had a hand made lake and mountain in his garden and we also saw the longest covered walkway in China.
A very informative talk with a variety of photographs of the gardens, thank you Duncan.
Our next meeting will be held on July 7 at 2pm at The Civic Centre when David Clark will talk about From the Guildhall to beyond the Seas. Please come and join us we will be very pleased to welcome you.
MARIAN COULTON
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