National Bonsai Invitational Exhibition Comes to the Millennium Iron Pagoda

Mammoth News · Oriental Today reporter Song Mingzeng, Wang Rulong, text/photos

The ancient capital of nine dynasties, present-day Bianliang, in the Iron Pagoda Scenic Area with its boundless spring scenery and fragrant flowers of all seasons, welcomed the National Bonsai Invitational Exhibition, jointly hosted by the Flower, Bonsai and Viewing Stone Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture and the Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Zone, and organized by the Henan Provincial Bonsai Association and the Iron Pagoda Scenic Area, which grandly opened on March 31.

This grand event received strong support and attention from leaders at all levels of the Kaifeng Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government as well as people from all walks of life.

The leaders attending today's ceremony were: Zhu Liping, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Kaifeng Municipal People's Congress; Zhao Jie, Vice Chairman of the Kaifeng Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Han Manku, Party Working Committee Secretary of the Kaifeng Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park; Wang Jishan, Director of the Management Committee of the Kaifeng Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park; Li Hongning, Deputy Director of the Kaifeng Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park; Ma Zhensheng, Deputy Director of the Management Committee of the Kaifeng Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park; Li Kewen, Executive Vice Chairman of the Flower, Bonsai and Viewing Stone Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture; Shi Peiyuan, Secretary-General of the Flower, Bonsai and Viewing Stone Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture; Yu Duan, Vice Chairman of the Flower, Bonsai and Viewing Stone Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture and President of the Henan Provincial Bonsai Association; and specially invited guests, Chinese bonsai art master Wang Xuanmin and several dozen Chinese bonsai masters from all over the country, who gathered at the millennium-old Iron Pagoda to join in this grand occasion. Li Hongning, Deputy Director of the Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park, presided over the meeting.

Li Kewen, Executive Vice Chairman of the Flower, Bonsai and Viewing Stone Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture, first delivered a speech; Zhao Jie, Vice Chairman of the Kaifeng Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, gave an important speech; Wang Jishan, Director of the Management Committee of the Kaifeng Songdu Ancient City Cultural Industry Park, introduced the details of this bonsai invitational exhibition; finally, Zhu Liping, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Kaifeng Municipal People's Congress, announced the opening of the 2018 China·Kaifeng "Iron Pagoda Cup" Bonsai Invitational Exhibition.

Liu Rong, Director of the Iron Pagoda Scenic Area, told reporters: This event organized nearly 300 fine bonsai of various types, covering multiple provinces, multiple schools, diverse shapes and elegantly arranged displays, such as outdoor stump scenery, bonsai courtyard group landscape display areas, and indoor miniature bonsai; in particular, bonsai of extremely high ornamental value created by dozens of national-level bonsai masters also "made a splendid appearance" in the exhibition for visitors to appreciate. The national bonsai exhibition held by the Iron Pagoda Scenic Area builds a bridge and a platform for cultural tourism and bonsai exchange, gathering the heritage of bonsai from all directions with the acclaim of the "Iron Pagoda Cup" and extracting the essence of bonsai culture. The Iron Pagoda Scenic Area is taking advantage of the opportunity of hosting a national-level bonsai grand event for the first time during the Qingming Cultural Festival to enhance its own influence and reputation, and is advancing along the track of high-quality, high-standard development of Kaifeng's tourism industry.