Professor Amy Liang is an internationally acclaimed bonsai master from Taiwan. She has dedicated most of her life to bonsai arts and gained worldwide recognition.
She said trees have emotions and feelings; pruning a bonsai tree can be quite a rewarding experience, as trimming off unnecessary or uninteresting branches can make the tree happy. In return, you can feel satisfied as well.
Please watch the following video for more interesting Amy Liang Bonsai Museum photos.
Amy Liang‘s fame in the international bonsai community may seem unsurprising. However, her path to success was marked by immense challenges many considered impossible. But it was bonsai art that saved her life.
Professor Amy Liang’s ordeal
Amy Liang was born into a wealthy family in Taichung City and married a prominent gynecologist/obstetrician from Changhua County in central Taiwan. As medical careers are among the most prestigious professions in Taiwan, Amy Liang was supposed to lead an affluent and happy life after getting married.
Nonetheless, suddenly living in a big old-fashioned family after getting married, she suffered from severe depression for eight years due to family stress. She was almost on the brink of committing suicide. Her family tried their best to help her and took her to various doctors, but to no avail.
A miracle happened
One day, Amy Liang’s father learned from a magazine that bonsai cultivation could be an excellent therapeutic practice for depression. He thus took her to a bonsai fair and purchased all the bonsai trees on display for her two days later.
Through the calming process of nurturing the bonsai plants, Amy gradually rediscovered a sense of joy and fulfillment in life. Her passion for bonsai successfully helped her overcome her depression two years later and has become an integral part of who she is today. Bonsai cultivation saved Professor Amy Liang’s life, and she is a living example of horticulture therapy.
Professor Liang’s achievements
Professor Liang has given about 140 lectures in over 20 countries across the globe and has taught at two U.S. universities and two Taiwanese universities for six years and four years, respectively. In China alone, she has taught over 6,400 students since 1991.
Besides hosting a TV show on bonsai art in Taiwan for two years, she has sponsored the establishment of 28 local bonsai associations. She has also invited mainstream international bonsai associations such as WBFF, ASPAC, and ABFF to hold eight large-scale international bonsai exhibitions in Taiwan. Furthermore, Amy has led the Taiwanese delegation to participate in various international bonsai exhibitions in 25 countries.
In 1988, she was invited to lecture at the U.S. Puget Sound Bonsai Association, the American University Bonsai Association, and the Mei Hwa Bonsai Association, respectively.
She was the first Taiwanese invited to give lectures and conduct bonsai demonstrations at the U.S. National Bonsai and Penjing Museum in the same year.
Acknowledgments
Professor Liang’s breathtaking bonsai reflects her deep passion for natural beauty and the art of living, and she has become an icon of bonsai culture.
Her works have gained wide recognition at home and abroad. For example, five of her bonsai were selected for Taiwan postage stamp images and one for a U.S. stamp.
One of Amy Liang’s 11 bonsai-related books, The Living Art of Bonsai: Principles & Techniques of Cultivation & Propagation, was selected as one of the top 10 best books of the year in the United States in 1991 and has been used as a bonsai textbook in over 20 countries.
Another book, entitled The Art of Bonsai, won her the Golden Tripod Award for Publications (金鼎獎) in two different categories in 1990, the highest honor in the publishing industry in Taiwan.
She was honored with the World Bonsai Contribution Award by the World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF 世界盆栽聯盟) and appointed as an international consultant to the WBFF. In addition, she also received the Lifetime Contribution Award for Bonsai Cultural Exchange between the Two Sides of the Taiwan Straits (海峽兩岸終身貢獻獎) in 1995.
Moreover, she was appointed as Honorary President of the Chinese Penjing Artists Association and won the honorary title of Bonsai Art Master of China (中國盆栽藝術大師) in the same year.
About the Bonsai Museum
To inspire more people to appreciate and respect nature through her exquisite bonsai collections, Amy Liang’s residence was turned into a fantastic bonsai museum in 2017, which is known as the Amy Liang Bonsai Museum (梁悅美盆栽文物藝術館), or the Purple Bonsai Garden (紫園). It is open to the public on a per-reservation basis.
The bonsai museum is located in the Shilin District of Taipei City. Covering an area of 2.2 acres (8,925 square meters), it is segmented into about five zones, in which over 500 beautiful bonsai trees of 126 species are displayed accordingly.
The Suiseki Hall (寶石館) is dedicated to her collection of about 300 items of large or small elegant viewing stones (suiseki 雅石), antique artifacts, and famous paintings. On top of that, some 200 ancient stone carvings from the Ming, Qing, and Song dynasties are displayed in various locations across the museum.
Amy Liang’s Bonsai Museum is a secluded place in Taipei Metropolis and is often called “The Small Palace Museum in Taipei City’s Tianmu District.”
The museum has become a popular destination for bonsai enthusiasts and artists worldwide. Furthermore, under Professor Liang’s dedication, the museum has grown in reputation and is today considered a world-class institution for studying and appreciating bonsai art.
