Best overlooked city garden in the world? Vancouver's Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden

Vancouver has been increasingly topping lists over the past few years. Now it has one more thing to boast about.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden was chosen in the top ten overlooked or under-the-radar city gardens listed in the National Geographic book 500 of the World’s Best Hidden Travel Gems. (The book, which includes numerous top ten lists of overlooked travel destinations, is part of the magazine's Secret Journeys of a Lifetime book series). Readers also voted it as the number one choice in an online survey.

It was voted ahead of the Rodin Sculpture Garden in Paris, and it was also only one of three North American gardens chosen for the top ten. The other two were New York City’s Conservatory Garden in Central Park and Hawaii’s Foster Botanical Garden.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, which is 25 years old, recreates Ming Dynasty traditions and balances yin and yang and four main elements: plants, rock, water, and architecture. The garden is the first of its kind outside of China. It includes limestone rocks that were imported from Lake Tai near Suzhou.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen led the 1911 revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty and visited Vancouver several times to raise funds for it. He became the first president of the Republic of China in 1912.

You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig.