Garden expo draws millions of visitors

Visitors of the 9th China International Garden Expo take pictures from the side of a street as they watch a parade in the expo park in Beijing's Fengtai district. Photo: Courtesy of the organizing committee of the expo

The 9th China International Garden Expo, which began on May 18 and concludes on Monday in the Fengtai district of southwestern Beijing, has made important contributions to the ecology and local economy, observers said.

More than 6 million people have visited the expo, according to data released by the organizing committee of the expo.

The event is being held on an ecologically-restored piece of abandoned land - once known as the "scar of Beijing" - to the west of the Yongding River with a 2.5-kilometer landscaped avenue and ginkgoes strapped around the expo park.

"The southwestern area of Beijing, especially the Fengtai district has been seeking an opportunity like this to boost its development for a long time," said Ji Yan, head of Fengtai district.

According to a blue book released by the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences in 2009, the pace of development of various districts in Beijing have been different with the western part of the city, such as Fengtai, growing relatively slowly.

The situation is gradually changed as the Beijing government constructed eight new roads and expanded the subway line 14 to support the expo.

"The construction of roads and subway under the name of the expo will also help improve the Beijing transportation network as well as push for development of the local economy," Sun Bo, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, told the Global Times.

The townships of Changxindian and Wangzuo as well as the Yungang Street have witnessed improvement in the environment and growth of industries as a result of the expo park.

"After the expo, the area has really been changed into one of the best environmental-friendly areas in Beijing," said a managerial staffer from a State-owned enterprise, who wished to stay anonymous. "We have plans to build a research center here to recruit oversea talents."

Zhang Jianguo, an official from the Fengtai government who also sits on the management board of the expo, told the Global Times that the area where the expo is now being held was earlier occupied by cement and lime factories that polluted the surroundings and forced many people to leave.

Zhang pointed to the expo's ecologically correct path as a good model for urban development projects in China.

After the conclusion of the expo, the Museum of Chinese Gardens and Landscape Architecture will stay open for free public viewing with plans for new exhibitions including on the life of Puyi, the last emperor of China, and on royal garden furniture.

Since 1997, the expo has been jointly organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the local government. The next garden expo is expected to kick off in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province in September 2015.