GRAND SCALE: The 2011 International Horticultural Exposition in Xi'an covers an area of 418 hectares (XINHUA)

Highlights

In the 418-hectare expo park, there are 109 outdoor gardens, three pavilions and five major horticultural scenic spots, giving tourists full enjoyment of the beauty of landscaping, gardening art, horticulture and architecture.

Outdoor gardens include those for cities of Shaanxi Province and those for each province of China, as well as international, masters' and enterprise gardens. These outdoor gardens are spread across the grand expo park and enable tourists to observe delicate designs of gardens of different styles, and traditional Chinese or exotic gardening art.

The Chang'an Tower, Theme Pavilion and Greenhouse are the most popular and frequently visited spots of the 2011 Expo in Xi'an. They are three of the four landmarks of the expo. The fourth landmark, the Guangyun Entrance, can receive 20,000 tourists each peak time hour.

The Chang'an Tower, built in the traditional Chinese architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is 99 meters high and has seven floors. There is a huge bodhi tree inside the steel tower, the trunk of which is covered by paintings of 50 teachers and students from the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts. From the top floor, tourists can have an overall view of the expo park and in each floor antiques and national treasures are on show. The tower has become the most famous symbol of the 2011 Expo.

The Theme Pavilion, situated near the Chang'an Tower, was mainly designed to demonstrate different fauna and flora from different climate zones, such as rainforest, deserts, tropical and south subtropical zones.

The Greenhouse uses the latest technology to showcase the hi-tech agricultural products of the world, such as pumpkin planted with transgenic technology, to give audiences a better and more scientific understanding of plants in the world.

The expo features five major horticultural scenic spots—the Chang'an Flower Valley, Flowers Along the Silk Road, Colorful Plants From Qinling Mountains, Overseas Collections and Flower Rainbow Over the Bahe River. These spots offer hundreds of thousand of flowers from China and abroad. Tourists can see flowers no matter where they are and in which direction they look.

As well, there are three characteristic service zones: Romance by the Bahe River, Tropical-style Waterfront and European Avenue, which were designed for dining, rest and shopping.

Additionally, gorgeous works of art, sculptures from China and abroad, such as Fantastic Forest, Silk Road, Tree Branch Horse and Water Dragon, will be on show during the expo. These will enable visitors to experience the beauty of amalgamation of gardening, horticulture, architecture and culture.

It will also be the first time an IHE host city has introduced rare animals. The organizing committee of the expo has invited four national treasures of China to live in the expo park from March 28. They are the Four Qinling Legends—the giant panda, takin, crested ibis and the golden monkey.