BEIJING- Foreign journalists from around the world paid a visit to the site of China’s International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 in Yanqing District, in the northwest of Beijing, on Sunday (April 14).

The International Horticultural Exhibition 2019, Beijing, China (Expo 2019 Beijing), with the approval of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) and the recognition of Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), was the largest international horticultural exposition of the highest level (category A1) hosted by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality and organized by the Chinese Government.

The Expo was also named as “the International Horticultural Exhibition at the Foot of the Great Wall”.

Expo 2019 Beijing was successfully held in Yanqing District, Beijing from April 29, 2019 to October 7, 2019 as an important part of China’s major diplomatic events in 2019 and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

At the opening ceremony on April 28, XI Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, delivered a speech entitled “Pursuing a Green Life and Building a Beautiful Home”, and at the closing ceremony on October 9, Premier LI Keqiang expressed the vision of “promoting the harmonious coexistence between man and nature and creating a better future for mankind”.

With the theme of “Live Green, Live Better”, Expo 2019 Beijing attracted 110 countries and international organizations.

The indoor floricultural displays and competitions and more than 3,200 cultural activities held at more than 100 outdoor exhibition gardens and the China Pavilion, the International Pavilion, the Botanical Pavilion, the Life Experience Pavilion, fully demonstrated the achievements of China and the world in horticulture and green ecology development, as well as the colorful and unique cultures of the Chinese nation and the participating countries, attracting 9.34 million tourists.

The 2019 Beijing International Expo was the second A1 International Horticultural Exhibition hosted by China after the 1999 Kunming International Horticultural Exposition. 1.2 Site Expo 2019 Beijing was held in Yanqing District, Beijing.

The park covers an area of 503 hectares, with a land area of 307 hectares and a water area of 196 hectares.

Yanqing District, which is in the northwest of Beijing and blessed with an excellent ecological environment and a unique climate that is cold in winter and cool in summer, is known as the “summer capital” and an important ecological conservation belt of Beijing.

Theme and concept

The theme of the Beijing Expo was “Live Green, Live Better”.

“Live Green” meant to make people respect, protect and integrate into nature, and deeply plant the life concept of green, low-carbon and environmentally friendly into people’s heart relying on horticulture.

“Live Better” showed the idea of accelerating the development of a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society, promoting the development and prosperity of global horticulture, and working together to build a colorful and beautiful home.

The concept of the Beijing Expo was “make horticulture part of nature; let nature touch the soul”.

Horticulture, which originates from nature, is the crystallization of human wisdom and nature, and bears the yearning and emotions of human beings for nature. Green represents safety, health and harmony between man and nature, which are the eternal pursuit of mankind.

The Beijing Expo concentrated global horticultural masterpieces and integrated them into a large natural landscape garden, fully displaying the harmony between horticulture, city, nature and human beings.

The Beijing Expo attracted 110 official and 120 non-official participants. Official participants included 22 Asian countries, 32 African countries, 12 European countries, 21 American and Oceania countries and 23 international organizations.

Non-official participants came from China, including 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as Hong Kong, Macao SARs and Taiwan, and 17 enterprises participants.

Indoor pavilions included the China Pavilion, the International Pavilion, the Botanical Pavilion and the Life Experience Pavilion, with a full exhibition area of 46,830 square meters, among which the China Pavilion covered 15,000 square meters, the International Pavilion 12,770 square meters, the Botanical Pavilion 9,660 square meters, and the Life Experience Pavilion 9,400 square meters.

A total of 3,284 events were held during the Expo, including 95 “National Day”, 8 “Honorary Day”, 331 “Day of Provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities” and more than 1,000 other themed activities; 180 “Floral Float Parades” and more than 400 interactive experiences of “fantastic light of forest” and other daily activities; 145 professional forums and international competitions; a total of more than 1,000 times of activities including “World Flower Art Contest”, “World Ornamental Horticultural Summit”, “The World Cultural and Tourism Festival” and “International Youth Arts Festival”, “Joy Dancing Beijing-Cultural and Art Exchange Week of International Youth”; more than 500 performances including “Heart of the Beijing International Expo” light show and “Beautiful Homeland” thematic performances.

During the 162 days of the exhibition, the Beijing Expo attracted 9.34 million visitors, of which 6.36 2 million were ordinary visitors.

In terms of the age structure, visitors at the age of 31-50 which is the golden age were the main visitors to the Beijing Expo, accounting for 37.19%, followed by retired people, accounting for 21.29%, and visitors at the age of 51-60 ranks third, accounting for 19.57%.

Layout of the Expo Park

The overall structural layout of the Beijing Expo Park features “one core, two axes, three belts and multiple zones” after combining the characteristics of the local mountain and water and natural terrain, and comprehensively taking into account the exhibition demand, municipal facilities, landscape and other factors.

“One core” refers to the “Core Landscape Area”, which is located in the center of the park as the most 4 important area for touring and organization.

There are important landscapes including China Pavilion, International Pavilion, Guirui Theater, Lawn Theater and Guirui Lake.

“Two axes” are composed of the “Chinese horticultural landscape axis” which was located on the west side of the core landscape area, with a total length of 1.2 kilometers and the “international horticultural axis” which was located on the east side of the core landscape area, with a total length of 1.4 kilometers.

“Three belts” refers to the Guihe Ecological and Recreational Belt, the Horticultural Life Experience Belt, and the Horticultural Industrial Development Belt. The Guihe Ecological Recreational Belt was laid out along the Guishui River. The Horticultural Life Experience Belt connected five major venues, a horticultural town, two secondary entrances and major function exhibition parks. The Horticultural Industrial Development Belt was laid out along the connection between the park and the city, and enterprise exhibition parks, horticultural supermarkets and plant greenhouses are set up along the way.

“Multiple zones” were five horticultural landscape exhibition zones, i.e. the International Horticultural Exhibition Zone, the Chinese Horticultural Exhibition Zone, the Ecological Exhibition Zone, the Horticulture-in-life Zone and the Education & Future Zone.

Achievement of targets

Expo 2019 Beijing overfilled target for exhibitors’ solicitation.

A total of 110 countries and international organizations confirmed to participate in the Expo, including 86 countries and 24 national organizations, and major flower and horticultural countries such as Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Singapore, Russia and so on, which also set a record of international participants among all A1 world expos.

It successfully completed the task of inviting international exhibitors, met the goal of exhibitor invitation set during the bid, and ensured that the Beijing Expo was held on time and ran smoothly.

Based on all efforts, the Beijing Expo became an important home-court diplomatic event for China. President XI Jinping and 10 heads of state attended the grand opening ceremony.

It should be noted that the foreign journalists visited the exhibition site in a program organized by China International Press Communication Center (CIPCC).

CIPCC, under the China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA), has initiated a program to build a platform for the media from countries around the world, especially developing countries, to observe China and study development in this country.

The program aimed at media exchange was halted in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

In each edition of the program, journalists from all around the world gather together to get familiar with the modern China and exchange their experiences in the field of journalism.

In 2024 edition of the program, scheduled to be held from late February until late June, over 100 journalists from more than 90 countries are participating.