Postcards: Forbidden Gardens

An intriguing site in Katy reprises Chinese cultural landmarks

By Sheila Scarborough

To get a sense of the scope and grandeur of the 180-acre Forbidden City in Beijing or the 8,000-plus Terra Cotta Warriors standing ready in their burial pits in Xi’an, you can either spend a lot of time on an airplane—paying $6 for a bland ham sandwich and worrying about deep vein thrombosis—or you can drive to Katy and visit the 40-acre Forbidden Gardens. On a recent sunny weekend, I chose the latter.

Opened in 1996 by Chinese-American businessman Ira Poon as an outdoor, family-friendly museum of Chinese culture, Forbidden Gardens’ location in the Houston suburbs makes sense, given the metropolitan area’s booming Asian community.

I had been fortunate to visit the real Forbidden City in Beijing about six months before, so this was a chance to step back into that experience without the stinging eyes and scratchy throat from the appalling Beijing air pollution.

Tinkling chimes in the central courtyard lent a peaceful vibe during the short wait before the next guided tour. The compound is built to resemble the original Forbidden City, with swooping, pagoda-style roofs but minus the giant portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China, that hangs on the exterior. Instead, two large white statues of Chinese guardian lions (Fu dogs) keep an eye on the entrance.

Our tour guide, longtime employee Kim Stevens, appeared, and the dozen people in my group began an hour-long tour that would explore thousands of years of Chinese history. Stevens kept us moving along at a brisk pace as she shared anecdotes and information about various architectural periods, emperors, battles, and tools of warfare.

First, we studied the 1/3-scale replicas of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, an “army” commissioned some 2,000 years ago by Emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Six thousand of these replicas are arranged in battle formation east of the courtyard. In a “willing suspension of disbelief,” I tuned out the backyard fences of a nearby housing development and marveled at the detail of the clay faces, hairstyles, and uniforms.

Stevens regaled us with stories of the emperor whose combat skills and diplomatic prowess unified most of China for the first time. The emperor championed massive public works projects, but he also had some odd personality quirks and paranoia.

Texas Heritage on Display

The Institute of Texan Cultures, built for HemisFair ’68, the international exposition that commemorated the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio, celebrates the state’s rich cultural history. While the UTSA facility serves as both an historical library and outreach center for schools and other organizations, its most visible public role is that of a museum, which offers dozens of permanent exhibits on the cultural heritage of African-Americans, Germans, Chinese, Japanese, Tejanos  and other ethnic groups in Texas.

The ITC presents two new temporary exhibits in January: RACE: Are We So Different? (Jan. 23–May 16) and The 13th Annual Da Dun Fine Arts Exhibition of Taichung City (Jan. 16– Feb. 28). The latter showcases 110 prize-winning pieces from a field of more than 2,000 international artists, including photographers, sculptors, and painters.

For more information, visit the ITC Web site or call 210/458-2300.

—Kate Hull

Fab '50s Return to New Braunfels

Start the new year off by heading to New Braunfels on Jan. 9 and seeing John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party—A Tribute to Buddy Holly, a live concert that re-creates the final tour of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) in 1959. The two-hour show includes such hits as “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “La Bamba,” and “Chantilly Lace.” Who says the music died?

John Mueller, the former star of the London/Broadway musical Buddy—The Buddy Holly Story, plays Buddy, and according to Travis Holley, Buddy’s brother, Mueller “really does Buddy proud…has his mannerisms and sound down pat. The best I’ve ever seen.” Former American Bandstand host Dick Clark has similar praise for Jay Richardson, who portrays his father, J.P. Richardson, in the show: “Watching Jay … is just like watching his dad,” Clark says.

Created in 1999 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the original tour, Winter Dance Party is the only show endorsed by the Holly, Valens, and Richardson estates and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit New Braunfels’ Web site or call 830/627-0808.

—Nola McKey

See the full article in the January 2010 issue.

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