Chinese Cultural Garden
In Overfelt Gardens, on the east side of San Jose, six acres are dedicated to the Chinese community that helped build the city and was repeatedly driven from it. The Chinese Cultural Garden combines traditional Chinese garden design with memorial elements that honor the Chinese immigrants who came to the Santa Clara Valley in the nineteenth century, endured systematic persecution including the burning of multiple Chinatowns, and ultimately wove themselves permanently into the fabric of the city that had tried to expel them.
A Garden of Memory
The garden's design draws on the Chinese classical garden tradition, using water, rock, and plantings to create a contemplative landscape. A statue of Confucius presides over the grounds, and memorial elements acknowledge the history of San Jose's Chinese community, including the destruction of at least five Chinatowns between the 1860s and 1930s. The garden serves a dual purpose: as a peaceful public space for recreation and reflection, and as a cultural monument that ensures the Chinese community's contributions to San Jose are remembered in the landscape of a city that once tried to erase them.
Overfelt Gardens
The Chinese Cultural Garden is part of the larger Overfelt Gardens complex, a 33-acre park in east San Jose that also includes a Japanese garden, open meadows, and nature trails. The park was donated to the city by Mildred Overfelt in honor of her parents, and has developed into a multicultural green space that reflects the diversity of east San Jose's communities. The Chinese Cultural Garden's placement within this larger park creates a context of shared heritage, where the stories of different immigrant communities exist side by side.
From the Air
Located at 37.36°N, 121.85°W in east San Jose at Overfelt Gardens. Reid-Hillview Airport (KRHV) is approximately 2 miles south. The park is visible as a green area amid the dense residential grid of east San Jose.