Countown begins for Jinzhou art expo

The 300-day countdown ceremony of the 2013 World Landscape Art Exposition Jinzhou China was held in Jinzhou, a coastal city in Liaoning province, on Thursday.

The exposition, jointly supported by the Association of International Horticultural Producers and the International Federation of Landscape Architects, will open in May 2013 and last for six months.

"The preparatory work of the expo has now entered a crucial stage. We will try our best to make the event go smoothly, and we are ready to welcome visitors from all over the world," Liu Fenghai, mayor of Jinzhou, said at the ceremony.

The theme of the expo is "the city and the sea, a future in harmony". It will feature a seaside horticultural park adapted from saline and alkaline beaches and abandoned shrimp ponds.

The park will cover seven sq km and will include 20 horticultural works selected from around the world.

Jinzhou is the fourth city on the mainland to host the event. The expo has also been held in Kunming, Shenyang and Xi'an.