Getting There: MTR Diamond Hill Station Exit C2, and follow the signs.
Aerial view of Nan Lian Garden (area on right) and Chi Lin Nunnery (area on left).
Nan Lian Garden
... is a Tang-style landscaped Chinese garden of classical elegance based on the blueprint of the famous Jiangshouju Garden in Shanxi Province. Although the location of the garden is in urban Kowloon, this is a truly beautiful, colourful and scenic place with a tranquil and serene atmosphere.
Whilst there are plenty of high-rise buildings in the vicinity of the garden, the distant backdrop to the north is of the scenic mountain ranges of Lion Rock, Tate’s Cairn, Temple Hill and Kowloon Peak. Noise barriers shield the gardens from the sound of traffic outside the garden and mounds have been placed around the whole garden with extensive planting of trees to filter exhaust and dust from the surrounding area.
The garden is designed with the intention that visitors follow a one-way route and the landscaping is based on the on traditional Chinese techniques such as “borrowing scenes”, “concealing scenes”, “sheltering scenes” and “penetrating scenes” to create space.
Chinese Timber Architecture Gallery which contains wooden models of traditional Chinese timber structures and illustrates construction methods such as those used at Chi Lin Nunnery.
The Lunar Reflection Terrace (above) and Pagoda Tree Pavilion (below) on the pond’s edge allow visitors to have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the pond and reflections of buildings on the opposite side.
Interesting rock!
Rockery with indoor displays of rocks from the Hongshui River.
Wow! Beautiful giant rock!
In the Lotus Pond is the stunning gold Perfection Pavilion connected by two red painted timber Zi Wu Bridges (not accessible to visitors).
Sundial
Chi Lin Nunnery
... occupies a 30,000 square-metre site which provides a tranquil retreat from its urban surroundings. It is sheltered on the left by the Mountain of Compassionate Clouds and guarded on the right by Lion Rock.
The nunnery is a large Buddhist monastic complex of fifteen magnificently crafted cedar halls, gardens, courtyards, gilded statues and lotus ponds and is modelled on the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD).
The design follows the ancient rules of Chinese architecture and fung shui principles. In constructing the buildings no nails were used; instead traditional techniques of bracketing and dowels were employed to hold the timber structures together and only natural materials such as clay, stone and wood were used. The main halls, which are built on a north-south axis, face the sea and back on to the mountains with ancillary halls to the east and west.
Corridors with colonnades and mullion windows run along either side of the courtyard and at the opposite end of the courtyard is the Hall of Celestial Kings.
View of the first courtyard from the Hall of Celestial Kings.
The first courtyard contains the landscaped Lotus Gardens with four large lotus ponds, statues, rockeries, bonsai trees in pots, cypress and peony trees.
Main Hall is a magnificent structure with roof of 28,000 clay tiles, weighing 176 tons, supported by twenty-eight cedar columns. Inside the hall are five gilded Buddhas.
Note: No photography inside the halls or of the Buddha statues.
