FIRST SATURDAY PDX
  • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources


2019 - 2020 Season



7 December, 2019
9:30 - 11:00 am


From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society 
 
​Presenter:  Ken Diener

                   

map of venue
quick season preview
season schedule (2019 - 2020)
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From an Architect's Perspective:  3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society 

7 December, 2019          
​9:30 am - 11:00 am 


Join First Saturday PDX for an illustrated lecture about the foundation and development of classical architecture in China.  Throughout history, societies were based on cultural and political hierarchies.  China was no exception and was influenced immensely by the teachings of Confucius.  Architect Ken Diener examines Chinese classical architectural design and construction through this cultural lens, especially referencing the buildings and grounds of Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden and how status contributed to the design of this unique treasure.
About the speaker:
Ken Diener joined the Classical Chinese Garden Society in 1990 and was a docent volunteer, contributing over 2,500 hours in Lan Su from when it opened in 2000 until he left Portland in January of 2018. Ken has presented two First Saturday lectures on Lan Su's architecture. In 2008, “A Mountain Out Your Doorway”  and 2011, “Stepping into the Clouds, the Poetics of Chinese Architecture”. After a year of traveling throughout the U.S., he and his wife have moved to McMinnville, OR. Ken studied architecture at NCSU, MIT and Vienna’s Technical Institute, later teaching architecture and working for architects throughout the US and abroad. He has run his own firm, KJD Architecture pc www.kjdarch.com  for 26 years.
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Recommended Reading:       ​
​Maxwell K. Hearn, How to Read Chinese Paintings  (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008)
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300141874   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300141870
​Liang Ssu-ch'eng, Chinese Architecture: A Pictorial History (Dover Architecture,  Dover Publications, 2005)
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0486439992   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0486439990
Beverly Jackson and David Hugus,  Ladder to the Clouds:  Intrigue and Tradition in Chinese Rank   (Ten Speed Press, 2000)
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1580081274   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1580081276
​Alfreda Murck, ​Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent
​(Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, 2002)
  
ISBN :  9780674007826
Lisa See, Peony in Love  (Random House, Inc. 2007)  
​
ISBN :  140006466X (ISBN13: 9781400064663)
Lin Feng, Canal Towns South of the Yangtze  (Shanghai Jiaotong University Press, 2009)  
ISBN : 9787313058188
Maggie Keswick, Charles Jencks, Alison Hardie,  The Chinese Garden:  History, Art and Architecture  
(
Harvard University Press, 2003)   ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674010868   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674010864
Stanley Appelbaum, Treasury of Chinese Designs CD-ROM and Book (Dover Publications 2006)
ISBN-10:  0486997448  ISBN-13:  9780486997445  ​
Dieter Kuhn,  The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China (Harvard University Press, 2009) 
ISBN :  9780674031463
Charles Q. Wu,  Listen to the Fragrance: Literary Inscriptions in Lan Su Chinese Garden (Lan Su Chinese Garden, 2016)
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0998077704   ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0998077703
Craig Clunas, Fruitful Sites Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China (Duke University Press 1996)
Paper  ISBN: 978-0-8223-1795-1 / Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8223-1800-2

Our educational program series has been developed in collaboration with PSU’s Institute for Asian Studies, and is free and open to the public.​  First Saturday PDX  current full season schedule and descriptions available HERE. 

View our regular monthly location by clicking on the address below for directions:  
Portland State University, Academic & Student Recreation Ctr (ASRC),  Room 230
1800 SW 6th Ave, Portland OR 97201

Excellent MAX and bus transportation is right by the venue; plan your Trimet trip HERE.   There is also a nearby parking structure at SW 6th and Harrison with an entrance on 6th Avenue is also available.
View PSU Parking info:  

https://www.pdx.edu/transportation/hourly-visitor-parking​​​
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​© 2014 - 2025  First Saturday PDX
  • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources