Nan Lian Garden 🥕🌞 Traditional Cache

For Yip Ping-kin, a worker at Nan Lian Garden, it’s about more than just a moment of peace. “I see more than just rocks and trees; to me, each object is distilled from history and the culture of the ages. The garden is a platform to spread Chinese culture and history. It gives people from the busy city a chance to have a quiet moment,” she explains. “When you drink a Wu Yi tea inside Song Cha Xie [the garden’s teahouse], you’re also experiencing the peace that the traditional Chinese tea ceremony can give you — tasting the years of efforts that went into planting the tea, frying the tea leaves, and the long history behind Chinese tea.” The garden’s vegetarian restaurant is renowned and often books out during weekends.

Connected to Nan Lian Garden is Chi Lin Nunnery. Established in 1934, this former villa went through several stages of renovation in the 1990s, before finally opening to the public in 2000. More than just a place of worship for Buddhists, it is now home to a school, library, dentist and residences for the elderly.

“Being a nun in the modern day means helping other people,” Yip says. “In ancient times, it was all about studying books, learning the ways of Buddhism and its philosophy. Now you can see that they dedicate their mission to helping the needy, sick and old.”

The main areas open to the public are the Lotus Pond Garden and Hall of Celestial Kings, which houses a gigantic golden statue of Buddha guarded by four deities at each corner of the hall. The Lotus Pond Garden allows visitors to settle into the calmness before walking into the sacred hall where chants play in the background.