World Horticulture Masters Tour Sub-venues of the International Horticultural Exhibition

World Horticulture Masters Tour Sub-venues of the International Horticultural Exhibition

Who will accompany me to appreciate the flowers and scenery? I just hope time doesn't rush by. On May 30, world horticulture masters from the United States, Canada, Poland, Pakistan, and other countries continued to savor the beauty of the Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition. They successively visited the four sub-venues in Wenjiang, Pidu, Xinjin, and Qionglai, getting up close to the wonders of Sichuan-style penjing, the flower industry, modern agriculture, and biodiversity conservation.

Wenjiang Sub-venue: Flowers, Penjing, and Miniature Landscapes - An Enchanting Experience

The 2024 Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition's Wenjiang sub-venue features a Flower Art Park, a Garden Art Axis, and a Penjing Art Museum. It showcases Wenjiang's "hundreds of flowers, hundreds of trees, and hundreds of gardens," interprets the craftsmanship of "thousands of people over thousands of years creating thousands of works," and highlights the industry's "famous products, famous sceneries, and famous villages."

Upon entering the Chengdu Sanyu Sichuan-style Penjing Museum, one is greeted by a series of antiquestyle buildings, small bridges, flowing water, and pavilions. A variety of world-class penjing masterpieces, rare stones, and exotic trees are on display. Within these small spaces, a vast world is revealed, leaving even these well-traveled world horticulture masters in awe and prompting them to take numerous photos.

Penjing is known as three-dimensional paintings and silent poems. Hu Shixun, a Sichuan-style penjing master, told the guests that Sichuan-style penjing, which is "rooted in nature yet transcends nature," has always been inspired by the ideal natural genes of Sichuan. It shares a lineage with landscape paintings, landscape poetry, and landscape gardens, reflecting the unique aesthetic sensibilities and romantic lifestyle of Sichuan's literati.

"One word: beautiful!" said Anthony O'Neill, the former president of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. "These penjing are true works of art. I see nature and artistic conception, as well as the horticulturists' ingenuity and perseverance. It's truly impressive!"

The influence of Wenjiang penjing is everywhere. In the Flower Art Park of the Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition's Wenjiang sub-venue, tabletop miniature landscapes showcase the integration of horticultural ecological beauty and technological wisdom. "Wow, there's a living little frog inside! This is incredible. We don't have such products in the United States. I really hope Chengdu's miniature landscapes can make their way to the U.S.," exclaimed Caroline Philip, a global agricultural industry marketing specialist from Syngenta Seeds Group in the United States, with a look of surprise on her face.

During the International Horticultural Exhibition, the Wenjiang sub-venue offers many activities for visitors to participate in, one of which is making their own ecological bottles. The horticulture masters got hands-on, guided by landscape designers. They selected containers, poured soil, chose stones and moss plants, sprayed water, and fixed the shapes, giving full rein to their imagination and creating unique miniature landscapes one after another. The creative process was full of fun, and the masters had a great time.

Pidu Sub-venue: Floral Art, Innovation, and Economy - Playing a Winning "Floral" Hand

As one of the four sub-venues of the Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition, the Pidu sub-venue focuses on flowers and seedlings. It highlights floral innovation, the floral economy, floral art, and the display of exquisite floral vessels. It is organized into four functional groups: the International Flower Brand Center, the Regional Flower Industry Achievement Pavilion, the Flower Horticulture Scenario Pavilion, and the Contemporary Floral Vessel Art Museum, showcasing floral achievements from regions such as the Five Continents, the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle, and the "Five Regions Prospering Together."

Strolling through the Spring Flower Paradise, one is overwhelmed by the lush greenery. The world horticulture masters wandered through the colorful and distinctive exhibition halls, with the sounds of cameras clicking and exclamations of admiration echoing around them. As experts, they didn't just appreciate the surface but also understood the underlying techniques.

Since its opening, the Pidu sub-venue has hosted a series of performances and exhibitions, including fairy-tale stilt parades, music festivals, and special product sales. The Spring Flower Paradise has carefully planned more than 20 supporting activities, allowing visitors to experience "worldly charm" and "Pidu flavor." According to statistics, in the first month since the opening of the Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition, the number of visitors to the Pidu sub-venue has exceeded 640,000, and the cumulative sales revenue of the Spring Flower Paradise has reached nearly 200 million yuan.

Kennedy Keith Frank, a Canadian horticulture master, said that he has participated in several World Horticultural Expositions, and Chengdu is undoubtedly the best one he has seen. Although it is a Category B expo, it feels like it has surpassed Category A. The high level of horticulture in Chengdu's exhibition areas, the significant boost to the flower and seedling industry economy, especially the rapid growth of the e-commerce economy, is worth learning from globally.

Xinjin Sub-venue: Colorful Agriculture Paints a Pastoral Landscape

The China Tianfu Agricultural Expo Park, located in Xingyi Town, Xinjin District, is the venue for the Xinjin sub-venue of the 2024 Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition. It is also the only exhibition area showcasing Chengdu's rural beauty and modern agriculture.

The Xinjin sub-venue adopts a spatial layout of "one field, two belts, three pavilions, and four areas," skillfully integrating elements such as agricultural experiences, agricultural exhibitions, rural music, and pastoral competitions. It presents a feast of "Beautiful Countryside, Colorful Agriculture" with a rustic charm, technological flair, and a sense of the times for citizens and visitors.

In the Agricultural Civilization Museum, the world horticulture masters immersed themselves in the long river of history. Through a wealth of information in the form of text, objects, pictures, videos, and AI technology, they learned about China's agricultural development and gained an understanding of Chengdu's agricultural culture.

Stepping out of the indoor exhibition halls, everyone took a sightseeing bus along the tourist route centered around the "core area of the Agricultural Expo Park," admiring the large-field landscapes and vegetable landscapes. Zhu Tongsheng, an agricultural technician at the Tianfu Agricultural Expo Park, reminded everyone to pay attention to the large area of colorful chrysanthemums planted on the south side of the main exhibition hall. "The colorful chrysanthemum varieties were introduced from Nanjing Agricultural University, covering six color systems: Huangguan, Yanhong, Xiaoye, Lianyan, Hongdou, and Yuebai. They will start blooming in September, reach their peak during the National Day holiday, and continue until November, just in time for the latter part of the expo period." The overall layout of the chrysanthemum exhibition is designed in the shape of "piano keys + staff lines + musical notes," creating a grand earth symphony of "I Love Chengdu" with the colorful large-field paintings.

Muhammad Ahmad, the head of the Pakistani horticulture delegation, was particularly interested in the new "rice-fish co-culture" model. He thought that the water could be recycled, and the fish excrement could provide nutrients for the rice. "This method is truly amazing." He hoped that this technology would continue to improve in the future, not only developing within Sichuan Province but also being brought to countries around the world, especially agricultural countries like Pakistan, to promote better agricultural development globally.

Qionglai Sub-venue: "Fluorescent Starry Sea" Illuminates Ecological Beauty

With blue skies, white clouds, high mountains, forests, meadows, and an oxygen-rich environment, the world horticulture masters exclaimed in admiration as soon as they arrived at Mount Tiantai in Qionglai: "It's so beautiful!"

The Qionglai Longmen Mountain Biodiversity Expo Park is one of the four sub-venues of the 2024 Chengdu International Horticultural Exhibition. With biodiversity as its featured theme, it showcases "one museum, one village, and six realms" as its main display content, creating a multi-functional expo park that integrates functions such as recreation, research, sightseeing, and vacationing.

The first surprise that greeted the world horticulture masters was seeing the prototype of the expo's mascot, "Tongmeier" - the Davidia involucrata. "This Davidia involucrata tree is truly remarkable!" After listening to the guide's introduction, Wiesław Sidło, a Polish horticulture expert engaged in plant research, exclaimed in surprise. It turned out that the Davidia involucrata in front of him was a relic plant from the Neogene Tertiary period 10 million years ago and a precious gem among China's eight first-class key protected plants.

Entering the Starry Sky Cinema in the expo park, everyone embarked on a wonderful ecological journey through VR. Fireflies filled the screen, dancing like a brilliant starry river, leaving everyone mesmerized. Not far from the expo park, Mount Tiantai has also recently welcomed the first peak period of firefly飞舞 (firefly flying). The two "fluorescent starry seas" echo each other, painting a vibrant picture of life in Longmen Mountain.

"Overall, both the terrain and biodiversity have left a very deep impression on us," said Muhammad Ahmad, the head of the Pakistani horticulture delegation. He added that future World Horticultural Expositions in any country could draw a lot of inspiration from this exhibition hall.

After visiting the four sub-venues, the world horticulture masters held a symposium with local Chengdu professionals in the flower, seedling, and horticulture industries. They analyzed the implications and references of the International Horticultural Exhibition for urban construction and explored the construction of Chengdu's park city and horticulture.