Beijing construction waste landfill to become garden
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A garden, almost twice as large as the famed Summer Palace, will be built on a construction waste landfill in order to host the Ninth China International Garden Expo in 2013, according to local authorities.
The ninth expo, with the theme "A Green Symphony, A Green Garden", will be held along the Yongding River in Beijing from April to October of 2013, jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the municipal government, said government officials at a promotional meeting on Wednesday.
The construction of the new garden, including a garden museum, main exhibition hall and Yongding Tower, has begun and is expected to finish by the end of 2012, said officials.
The new garden will cover 513 hectares, while the famous Summer Palace takes up 300 hectares. The Summer Palace once served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi and was named to the World Heritage List in December 1998.
The expo will be held to showcase the landscaping development and raise public awareness about harmony among people, resources and the environment, to make the world a more beautiful, harmonious place, said the officials.
The biannual expo has been held seven times since 1997 in cities including Dalian, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Jinan. The upcoming 8th expo will be held in Chongqing municipality this year.
