Highlighting harmony between humans and nature, the Fifth China International Landscape Architecture and Flower Exposition will be held in South China next year, it has been announced.
The expo, in Guangdong Province's Shenzhen, will start in September and last for six months.
"We want to take this opportunity to improve the urban horticultural level and create better living conditions for our citizens," said expo deputy secretary-general Wu Zijun, who is also director of the city's urban management office.
The event will be held at Shenzhen's international horticulture and flower exhibition garden, which will witness a 235 million yuan (US$28.2 million) upgrade.
According to Wu, 3 million yuan (US$360,000) - initial funding for the first phase - will be spent on the garden setting.
During the expo, there will be 120 outdoor exhibition spaces, with 90 reserved for overseas exhibitors. The exhibition space will cover 200,000 square meters.
Since the event will also be a communication line between horticulture at home and abroad, a seminar on the city and its flowers will be held at the same time.
As Shenzhen people are passionate about the environment, the city is also boosting its number of parks and green areas.
The per capita public green land space is presently 14.2 square meters, ranking it first among big cities in China.
Next year's expo will be sponsored by the Ministry of Construction and local municipal government.
The previous expos were held in Dalian, Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
(China Daily April 2, 2003)
