Xu Zhimo garden opens at Cambridge University

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The Xu Zhimo Commemorative Garden was unveiled Friday during the fourth annual Cambridge Xu Zhimo Poetry & Art Festival at King’s College Cambridge. It is the first Chinese Garden to be opened within the University of Cambridge, celebrating the growing cultural relations between the UK and China.

Xu Zhimo was a famous Chinese poet who studied at King’s College Cambridge for 18 months in 1921-22. He wrote the poem "Second Farewell to Cambridge" after his third visit to Cambridge in 1928, which is taught to millions of students across China.

The Xu Zhimo Commemorative Garden opens during the 4th annual Cambridge Xu Zhimo Poetry & Art Festival at King’s College Cambridge on August 10, 2018. /CGTN Photo

The new garden features many plants that grow naturally in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang where Xu was born. It also has a carved stone bench themed after the Crescent Moon Society, which Xu founded in 1923, as well as seven pots glazed with ash from Xu's old willow trees, as portrayed in his poem.

The path is carved with the second and third verses of "Second Farewell to Cambridge," in both Chinese calligraphy and English lettering.

The white pots are glazed with ash from Xu's old willow trees. /CGTN Photo

The opening was attended by over 20 descendants of Xu's surviving family, most of whom currently live in the United States.

"It represents the recognition of contribution that he made in a society beyond just Chinese but more of an international figure at this point. It is a very proud moment for myself, my family and Chinese people in general as well," said Xu's grandson Tony Hsu.

The path is carved with the second and third verses of Xu Zhimo's "Second Farewell to Cambridge". /CGTN Photo

The surviving family of Xu Zhimo pose for a photo at the opening of Xu Zhimo garden at King's college, Cambridge. /CGTN Photo

"We built this garden because we are associated with Xu Zhimo. Now China is opening up to the world again as it did a hundred years ago. And we are also very keen to create a bridge as Xu Zhimo did between the West and the East, to spread peace, understanding, cooperation, collaboration and harmony. Xu Zhimo is a symbol of this because he tried to do this a hundred years ago," said Alan Macfarlane, professor emeritus of King's College, Cambridge.

One of Xu Zhimo's most famous poems "Second Farewell to Cambridge". /CGTN Photo