Bearing the theme “From the Earth, for the Earth,” the International Horticultural Exposition will be held in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, from April 25 to Oct 25, 2014, according to a news briefing held by its organizing committee on September 24. The emblem and mascot of the exposition were both unveiled at the conference.

Qing Qing, the exposition's mascot, is a sea fairy with a light-blue appearance and the emblem stems from a traditional Chinese character, which shows a man planting a tree. [File Photo]

Qing Qing, the exposition's mascot, is a sea fairy with a light-blue appearance. Wu Guanying, the mascot's designer from the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, painted clouds across its body as to convey the beautiful scenery of Qingdao.

“‘Sea’ is the first word that comes to people’s minds when they mention the city, so I used the blue color to provide the expo’s visitors with the vivid image of a seashore city," he said, "I used to paint sea birds and flowers, but I just think the sea fairy is best suited to the expo’s theme. After all, water is the source of life and all things," he added.

Chen Nan, a designer from the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, said that the inspiration of the emblem stems from a traditional Chinese character, which shows a man planting a tree. "The character means ‘art' and also represented gardening in ancient times. That's why I chose it as the emblem's main element," Chen said while pointing at his work.