China Garden Musical Gala (#250, Topic D)

Sunday, 11/05/06, Friends of China Garden mounted a musical gala at the Strathmore Music Hall, (1) promoting this 4-year-old ready-to-be-built project, a 12-acre China Garden 中國園 in the US National Aboretum in DC, and (2) raising funds from the Chinese-American community for 8% of the total budget of $100 million. The remaining 92% have been underwritten by both the US government (responsible for providing land and related infrastructure and for site maintenance) and the Chinese government (responsible for designing and constructing dozens of buildings and for decorating their interiors with Chinese cultural artifacts). The gala featured traditional Chinese musical instruments, such as Zheng 箏 pipa 琵琶 hujin 胡琴, and played classical Chinese compositions. In the finale, a chorus performance, there were no less than 120+ peformers on the stage -- 50+ female voices, 30+ male voices, a soprano, a tenor, a 30-member Chinese-instrument orchestra, a conductor, augmented by three cellos, a bass, and a piano. It was both visually impressive and musically pleasing; above all, it was an artistic success. With the gala exactly two days before the midterm election, and with the venue held in Montgomery County Maryland, the governor (represented by his wife), Democratic candidates for senate and for house, and Montgomery county executive candidate, all appeared on stage to wish the project success. Maryland's secretary of state also read a citation honoring the Friends of China Garden 中國園之友. When the project was first publicly announced by the Undersecretary of Agriculture in Research, 任築山, Joseph J. Jen, to a gathering of the Chinese-American community in 2003, he wanted to sign up 100 donors, each pledging $10,000, so as to raise $1 million to give the project a fast start (thereby telescoping the unavoidable delays of a year or two in the US goverment budget-approval process). Sensing the hesitation among the 100 or so gathered, I decided to get the ball rolling by taking the initiative; I was pleased to see that 5 or 6 followed my lead before the end of that gathering; soon thereafter, the goal of having 100 donors was met. Needless to say, as evidenced by this gala, Friends of China Garden are still soliciting funds. Indeed, while at the Musicl Hall, the principal of a Chinese-language school, sitting just behind me, introduced me to a student in her school, who had initiated a dollar-a-name project, soliciting donations mainly from students, though participation by adults was equally welcome. My wife and I managed to meet our quota by giving this young man a dollar bill, 2 quarters, and 5 dimes. At the gala, the chairman of Friends of China Garden, 陳壯飛 Jeffrey Chen, announced that he had secured three pledes of $10,000 apiece that very evening. The Garden, designed by renowned Chinese architect 貝聿銘 I.M. Pei, will be the largest Chinese Garden in North America when it is completed in about 2 years' time.