China’s latest show of strength and prosperity is world’s largest gardening expo
- The International Horticultural Exhibition, located in Beijing’s Yanqing district, is an ambitious display of soft power through flowers
- Described as ‘a classroom for learning Xi Jinping’s ecological civilisation’, it is the largest international event hosted by China since the 2008 Olympics
If you want to say something, the expression goes, say it with flowers.
It is a concept that will take on new meaning in China with the opening of the world’s largest ever gardening show, on April 29, a mammoth exhibition of plants, pavilions and soft power that forms part of celebrations marking the 70th birthday of the People’s Republic of China.
At the foot of the Taihang mountains in the Beijing suburb of Yanqing, an area the size of 500 football pitches has been fenced for the massive International Horticultural Exhibition.
The vast show boasts more than 1,000 varieties of Chinese flowers, 100 indoor and outdoor gardens, and pavilions hosted by more than 80 countries. Organisers expect 16 million visitors – more than the number of tickets sold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London – to pass through its doors.
At its centre is the sprawling China pavilion, a massive semicircular dome in the shape of a traditional Chinese ornament. Embedded in artificial terraces topped with wheat (a gesture to northern China’s staple grain), it is meant to evoke nostalgia and awe.
The roof collects rainwater to be recycled. A sunken courtyard is intended to remind visitors of being inside a traditional Chinese home.
