As a present to this historic city the Chinese garden was created as a symbol of friendship from Shanghai, a sister city to St. Petersburg.

"My mother and I like the garden very much. We have read quite a lot about it from the newspaper and we know it's a gift from Shanghai,'' said a 17-year-old local girl called Lena, who had accompanied her mother specially to visit the garden, despite the drizzle Friday.

Nina Levchenko, an associate professor of architecture said: "There was no classical Chinese building in St. Petersburg before, now the garden gives the city a new image.''

The professor said she was quite familiar with Chinese art because there were a large number of Chinese students in the country during the 1950s when she was a student.

"I can even sing the song 'Moscow, Beijing','' she said, adding: "China has achieved great progress and I hope to learn more about China.''

Zhang Dongcheng, the designer of the garden, said in a telephone interview: "We hope it will help us to extend our best wishes to the people of St. Petersburg. That's why we named it 'Friendship Garden.'''

Located close to the city centre, the garden is a perfect example of the harmonious coexistence between traditional Chinese dragon walls, pavilions and arched bridges.

(China Daily May 31, 2003)