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| Kirk Chia, Jiang Yiqiao, Phil Woods, and Riz Reyes with peony roots donated from the city of Luoyang in November |
In hopes of establishing an annual Seattle Luoyang Peony Festival at the Seattle Chinese Garden, the city of Luoyang is hosting a delegation from Seattle at their Peony Festival this week. Luoyang, a city in western Henan province of central China, is known as the peony capital of China. Every year, Chinese tourists flock to the city in April to celebrate the
"flower of riches and honor" (富贵花). Surprisingly, outside of China the city is not very well known, despite its size (population 6.5 million) and national reputation as one of China's ancient cultural treasures.
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| Deputy mayor Darryl Smith with Scott Heinlein and Jim Dawson during 2011 delegation to Chongqing at the Dazu stone grottoes. |
Seattle deputy mayor Darryl Smith will be joining Garden board vice president Jim Dawson, longtime benefactor Stella Chien, and Garden blogger Liz Hattemer for this week of garden diplomacy. Deputy mayor Smith's participation is important –
his visit to Chongqing in 2011 was key in emphasizing trade and development in Washington and promoting tourism for Seattle. Leaders of the delegation, Washington China Center LLC owner Scott Heinlein and American Peony Art and Culture Association's Kirk Chia have been working together with Luoyang to establish an American version of Luoyang's peony festival here in Seattle. Through their efforts (see blog entry
Passion for Peonies), Luoyang sent 232 tree and shrub peonies to the Garden last November. In May we will be reciprocating/hosting our first Seattle Luoyang Peony Festival with a delegation from Luoyang.
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| Early November 2012, delegates met with SCG Garden president Jonathan Geiger and Luoyang contact Jiang Yiqiao. From left, Jiang Yiqiao, Kirk Chia, Scott Heinlein, Liz Hattemer, and Jonathan Geiger |
The Seattle delegates leave April 8th for a week of cultural, educational, and business activities hosted by the city of Luoyang. In addition to meetings and official dinners with Luoyang vice mayor Wang Jinglin and deputy mayor Darryl Smith (as well as visits to all things related to peonies), the city of Luoyang will be taking the delegates to famous Longmen Grottoes. Carved into the limestone of these caves are thousands of what is considered the finest example of Chinese Buddhist sculptures. Also on the agenda are a visit to Shaolin Temple and dinner with the Shaolin monks at the monastery, famous for Shaolin Kung Fu martial arts.
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| Delegate Jim Dawson shows painting from artist Jiang He. His son Jiang Yiqiao is on the right. |
As blogger for the delegation, I hope to keep you posted on this exciting week which will conclude with an opportunity to meet well known and highly regarded peony artist Jiang He in Beijing.
