A visit to the 23rd Jiangsu Taicang Orchid Expo venue

The opening of the 2013 China Orchid Expo is now in countdown, and venue construction is basically complete, with interior decoration and the arrangement of display racks and scenery currently underway. A few days ago, reporters entered the Orchid Expo venue located in the Modern Agriculture Park for a sneak preview of the charm of this year's Orchid Expo feature pavilion.

More than 80 plaques took over half a year to make   Venue construction strives for perfection

Whitewashed walls and dark tiles, upturned eaves, and lattice windows make people feel as if they have traveled through time and are standing in a classical garden of the Ming and Qing dynasties; covered corridors, landscape walls, corners, and winding paths further fully express the simple, elegant, refined, and exquisite garden characteristics of the Jiangnan water town. Entering the Orchid Expo venue area, what first comes into view is a group of Jiangnan classical garden buildings in Ming and Qing style. The two large characters "Lan Pu" carved on the plaque in front of the courtyard are especially eye-catching.

Without water there is no garden; water is an important component of classical Jiangnan gardens. According to the relevant person in charge of Xincheng Orchid Gardening Company, as the feature pavilion of the Orchid Expo - Lan Pu, following the Chinese Orchid Association's idea of "combining the Orchid Expo with modern agricultural landscapes, classical Jiangnan gardens, and orchid culture and distinctive culture," the venue is surrounded by water on all sides, covers an area of more than 100 mu, has a building area of more than 5,800 sq m, and represents a total investment of nearly 50 million yuan.

A garden is not elegant without stones. Lan Pu features rockeries. Of the 8 stones in the garden, 6 are Taihu stones and 2 are Lingbi stones, all of them single-peak stones. According to reports, during venue construction, workers cleverly combined the 8 stones with the garden's main plants, including orchid, plum, bamboo, chrysanthemum, pine, lotus, peony, and wintersweet. For example, the Taihu stone at the entrance is the representative stone of orchid, called "Orchid Fragrance in the Quiet Valley."

The entire Lan Pu has 108 brick-carved lattice windows. From plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum to fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness, each lattice window has a different pattern. All were hand-carved by highly skilled brick-carving masters from Suzhou, and the labor cost alone for each window is over a thousand yuan; there are more than 80 plaques of various sizes in Lan Pu, all traced from the handwriting of famous calligraphers of past dynasties, from the Sage of Calligraphy Wang Xizhi to Mi Fu, Su Shi, Zhao Mengfu, and other famous calligraphers, and then to Dong Qichang, Wang Shizhen, Wu Meicun, and others familiar to Taicang people. Merely collecting the handwriting for these plaques and producing and processing them took more than half a year. The person in charge said that every part of the Lan Pu architecture strives to show the characteristics of the Jiangnan water town and to explore the heritage of classical gardens. During the Orchid Expo, this place will serve as a feature pavilion to display fine orchids exhibited from all over the country, including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hubei, and Sichuan, and will also set up exhibition areas for orchid culture and Loudong culture.

Hundreds of rare plants gather in Lan Pu   Every flower and plant is worth seeing

From Cyclocarya paliurus, known as the "giant panda" of the plant world, to the domestically rare Shengyin bamboo, and then to the widely known golden-thread nanmu... According to the relevant person in charge of Xincheng Orchid Gardening Company, there are about a hundred kinds of rare domestic tree species in Lan Pu. In addition to native tree species such as zelkova, elm, and hackberry, there are more crabapple, plum trees, black pine, Shengyin bamboo, century-old peonies, and other rare domestic plants carefully selected from Henan, Hebei, Zhejiang, Shandong, Anhui, and other places. Every tree must go through rounds of "beauty selection": the crown posture must be beautiful and the diameter at breast height must be large enough to qualify for planting in Lan Pu. 

Each peony is taller than a person, and the branches are as thick as a bowl's mouth. The bamboo planted in the garden is also no ordinary variety. The person in charge said that these peonies are all century-old peonies, 10 in total, each more than 2.2 m tall, with flower colors including red, yellow, pink, and purple. At present, the total number of century-old peonies in China is less than 200, so these peonies are very precious. The ages of the 10 century-old peonies add up to exactly one thousand years, and they form the "Qianqiu Guose" landscape area among the "Twelve Scenes of Lan Pu." The bamboo is Shengyin moso bamboo, a precious ornamental bamboo species. There are only about 500 in the whole country, and Lan Pu has introduced 50; planted along the river channel, they form the distinctive "Yinglan Bamboo Sea." 

At present, the opening of the Orchid Expo has entered countdown, and all preparatory work has entered the sprint stage. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the Municipal Agriculture Committee said that they will, in line with the principles of simple form and refined content, further coordinate relevant departments and units, do all preparatory work well and in detail, and strive to hold a grand event that reflects Taicang's characteristics and has rich cultural connotations, so that people from all walks of life can enjoy fine orchids from all over the country.

Combining with garden style, Orchid Expo venue construction begins to take shape and wins praise

Taicang combines Orchid Expo venue construction with cultural elements and garden style, providing a demonstration role for future national orchid expos held in various places." On January 11-12, Chen Dong, executive vice president of the Orchid Branch of the China Flower Association, Wang Chongnong, vice president, and their party made this high evaluation after inspecting Taicang Lan Pu. Leaders of the Orchid Branch of the China Flower Association also inspected the Lan Pu construction site on the spot, listened to reports on Taicang's preparations for the Orchid Expo, and guided the preparatory work. Vice Mayor Zhao Jianchu and others attended.

As the main venue of the 23rd National Orchid Expo, Taicang Lan Pu, since construction began in May 2011, has followed the requirements of the Chinese Orchid Association, integrated Loudong culture into the exhibition, highlighted the classical garden style, and effectively accelerated the planning, design, construction, and other work of the venue project. Up to now, 85% of the total civil engineering work has been completed, and various interior renovations, investment promotion, and exhibition arrangements are being carried out intensively. In order to welcome the opening of the Orchid Expo, Taicang established a corresponding preparatory organization, innovated ideas, integrated resources, and adopted a model of "government guidance, social participation, and market-oriented operation" to hold the exhibition, reflecting a pragmatic, frugal, and efficient spirit. Through using orchids as a medium, it seeks to organically combine industry and culture and create the artistic conception of a "garden city, ecological civilization" and "the world's finest fragrance, elegant golden Taicang." Leaders of the Orchid Branch of the China Flower Association expressed satisfaction with Taicang's preparatory work and put forward relevant requirements for the preparation of the exhibition.