Chinese, U.S. officials break ground on China Garden in Washington to strengthen ties

Chinese and American officials on Friday broke ground on the China Garden in the U.S. National Arboretum, signaling the start of construction on a much-anticipated local tourist attraction.

The China Garden, covering an area of five hectares, is designed to inherit quintessential features of Chinese gardens in the Ming and Qing dynasties as well as making innovations to fully represent profound traditional Chinese culture.

"The start and smoothing progression of the construction of the China Garden will lay a solid foundation for enhancing cultural exchanges and also the friendship between China and the United States," Zhang Jianlong, head of China's State Forestry Administration, said at the ground-breaking ceremony.

"The garden was originally conceived as a focal point to strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges between our two countries," said Catherine Woteki, under secretary of the U.S. Agriculture Department. "We fully expect that there will be a robust cultural programming once the construction is completed."

The China Garden project was launched in 2004 when China and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build a garden in the U.S. capital to enhance the friendship between their peoples.

According to the agreement, the Chinese side was responsible for aboveground planning and design, construction and interior displays of the garden, while the U.S. side was responsible for the underground construction and maintenance. Endi