Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society MCFGS

Help us fund raise for the 2nd Phase of 柳 明 園 Liu Ming Yuan - The 1st Changsha-style China Friendship Garden in U.S.

To date we have raised more than $1.4 million for the construction and installation costs of the St. Paul-Changsha China Friendship Garden at Phalen Regional Park in St. Paul, Minnesota.

We presently are fund raising for the planning and design of the 2nd Phase of the garden which include will include the following major features: a Hmong Plaza, a Chinese Moon Bridge, an extension of the Xiang Jiang Pavilion Garden, and a Moon Gate/Donor Wall. 

Major features of Phase I included: the Xiang Jiang Pavilion, a gift from Changsha of a replica of Changsha’s famous Aiwan Pavilion and surrounding plaza, as well as the West Entrance Arch and Hmong Heritage Wall granite sculpture (symbolizing the 5,000 year-old ancestral connection between the Minnesota Hmong and the China Hmong), with plants, rocks, and decorative pathways.

We have made significant progress:

• St. Paul and Changsha exchanged cultural gifts in 2018, the 30-year anniversary of the sister-city relationship
• The China Garden Society held a Grand Opening in July 2019, attended by hundreds of supporters.
• Changsha presented the gift of the Xiang Jiang Pavilion to St. Paul, installed at Phalen Regional Park in the summer 2018.
• St. Paul presented the gift of a set of the iconic 5 Peanuts Characters statues to Changsha, installed at Yanghu Wetlands Park Science Museum. A Delegation from St. Paul traveled to Changsha for the official unveiling in October 2019.
• Signed the sister friendship park agreement between Phalen Regional Park and Yanghu Wetlands Park, Changsha in 2015.

Your contribution will make this dream a reality.  

Later Features in the China Friendship Garden will include:  Chinese arched moon bridge, Hmong Cultural Plaza, East Moongate Entrance & Donor Wall, Lakeside Classroom Pavilion with covered walkway and moon gate, artistic rocks, etc.

This China Friendship Garden:

• is a symbol of Minnesota’s longstanding friendship with China and a recognition of its sister-city relationship with Changsha since 1988
• recognizes the historical and ancestral relationship of the Minnesota Hmong with the 2 million China Hmong in Changsha, Hunan Province
• promotes Minnesota’s understanding of China and of China’s rich cultural heritage
• serves as a recognition of the contributions of the Chinese American community to the Twin Cities
• serves to enhance peoples’ connection to and appreciation of nature
• builds a cultural bridge that will boost international trade and tourism between China and Minnesota

The  MN China Friendship Garden Society is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization with a mission is to establish China Friendship Gardens in Minnesota in order to further promote friendship and understanding between the peoples of China and Minnesota.  This is a collaboration with St. Paul Department of Parks & Recreation, the City of Changsha, and the Changsha Yanghu Wetlands Park.