After two years of preparation and renovation, the China Shenyang International Horticultural Exposition 2006 opens on April 30 in Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
The Exposition Garden, located at the famous Qipanshan International Scenic Spot to the east of downtown Shenyang, is now ready to receive visitors.
Embraced by luxuriant forests in the area, the garden has 8.1 million trees and more than 20 million flowers. It boasts of being "the only international horticultural garden in the forest."
Made up of four major architectures, three landscape zones, 100 smaller gardens and covering an area of 246 hectares, the garden is the largest in the exposition's history.
The four major architectures are a 72-metre-tall sculpture entitled "Wing of Phoenix," a greenhouse Rose Garden, a 125-metre-tall "Tower of Lily" and a main exhibition hall.
The three landscape zones are divided into "natural landscape," "artificial landscape" and "wetland landscape."
The 100 smaller gardens include 23 international gardens, 53 domestic gardens and 24 special gardens.
The 23 international gardens represent each country's unique foliage, architecture and culture.
Among them, 10 are from the Asian countries of the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal.
Eight are from the European countries of Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Turkey and Greece.
Canada, the United States, Bolivia, Australia and Kenya also have their own gardens.
Chinese cities and regions make up 53 domestic gardens, which includes three gardens for China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and Taiwan Province.
The Tower of Lily, which depicts a giant flower of the same name, is the tallest building in the garden. The 125-metre-tall tower has two sightseeing stands, from which the visitors can enjoy a bird's eye view of the entire garden.
The exhibition hall has an area of 12,000 square metres. The hall displays a detailed panorama of classic gardening works.
The architectures, landscape zones and smaller gardens constitute a diverse but harmonious garden, reflecting the theme of the Shenyang International Horticultural Exposition, which is living in harmony with nature.
The Rose Garden, growing more than 3,300 roses, is one of the largest rose gardens in the world.
During the exposition, the garden will have 10 outdoor flower exhibitions, such as tulip, peony, water lily, lily, dahlia, gladiolus, Chinese flowering apple and chrysanthemum.
It will also display nine indoor flower exhibitions, such as orchid, azalea, chrysanthemum, cactus and desert plants, ikebana and root carving of pineapple.
Aside from the beautiful gardens, visitors will also have access to many other facilities, such as a theatre, an amusement park, a music fountain and a water park.
There will also be live performances by a Russian circus that will stay in the garden during the exposition.
Visitors will have a chance to taste the delicious cuisines of China's 56 ethnic groups in the Food Street, and buy delicate handicraft articles along the Craftsmanship Street.
The International Horticultural Exposition is approved by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (IAHP) and is a world-class exposition of gardening.
Shenyang won the bid to host the 2006 exposition in September 2004 in Belgium.
The exposition is co-sponsored by Liaoning provincial government, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Commerce, China National Tourist Administration, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China Flower Association. The Shenyang municipal government organized the exposition.
(China Daily 04/29/2006 page6)
