As the season of spring sets in, one of the noticeable things about the campus of TKU is that almost everywhere it is teeming with blooming trees and luscious dwarf evergreens. The newly opened Chueh Hsuan (the classical Chinese garden) is even more splendid with pink cheery blossoms and sweet-smelling hawthorns. Many students frequent here to forget everyday chores and consider it the Elsium in the mundane world.

Chueh Hsuan, a garden imitating the architectural style of the famous Yu Yuan on the outskirts of Shanghai, was formally inaugurated by Dr. Clement C.P. Chang, Founder of TKU. As soon as he pulled down the crimson cloth wrapping around the crescent moon doorway, it became one of the famed scenic spots of TKU.

In the opening address, Dr. Chang said that given that TKU is the landscape center of Tamsui, Chueh Hsuen is the nucleus of that kaleidoscope. “I am hoping,” he said, “that starting from the flowering latticed wall on Shui Yuan Road, up till the Activity Center, we can call it the garden area of TKU. Maybe we have earned the right to design a landscape of our own because, after all, we have been around for half a century.”

Pres.Chang Horng-jinh remarked, “From the blue-print to the last finish, Chueh Hsuen has come a long way. Now, amidst the expectations of faculty and students, we have a Chinese garden in addition to a European and a Japanese one. Life in Tamkang is indeed a many-splendid thing;.”

In the accompaniment of traditional Chinese music, faculty and students and retirees stepped over the Lantern classrooms and arrived at Chueh Hsuan. They followed the footsteps of Dr. Chang, passed the crescent moon doorway, and mounted the snake-winding, tortuous galleries. They were either sitting on the “Beauty Recliners”, or watching

the gold fish swimming in the rippling water of the pond, or inhaling the heavily scented cassia trees, or contemplating the serene beauty of the distant Kwan Yin mountain. The garden was alive with the humming voice and echoing with laughter from people everywhere….

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