The Chinese Garden - part of the Hortus Botanicus Haren was built in 1995 after an earlier visit of a Groningen trade mission to several cities in China. It is a historical reconstruction of a garden from the Ming period. The walled garden was designed a famous Chinese urban garden architect from Shaghai.

Almost all the material used to build the Chinese Garden was shipped from China to the Netherlands, from the stones in the garden and the wood of the pavilions to the furniture of tea house. Chinese workers laid out the park largely by hand. The result of this cooperation between the Netherlands and Shanghai is the beautiful Chinese garden “The Hidden Kingdom of Ming”, which was officially opened by H.M. Queen Beatrix in 1995.