Horticultural expo worth every penny

It will attract 110 countries and international organizations as participants and more than 120 non-official exhibitors. It will have 41 outdoor exhibition centers which will host about 2,500 activities, including those involving artificial intelligence and 5G technology. And it will draw an estimated 16 million visitors both from home and abroad.

The 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition, spread over 5.03 square kilometers at the foot of the Great Wall in Beijing's Yanqing district, will open on Monday, and its huge collection of plants, flowers and eye-catching pavilions, as well as ideas for green development will continue to enthrall visitors for 162 days.

Yet some people are using social media platforms to claim the horticultural expo is "wasting money" and "using too many resources". By building so many pavilions to draw participants and visitors, the organizers are burning too much money, they say. They also say the expo will leave the huge area it occupies in decrepit condition after it ends.