The 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition (2010 Flora Expo) opened on 6 November 2010 and ran until 25 April 2011 in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It was a garden festival recognized by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH / IAHP) and was categorized as an A2/B1 horticulture exposition. It was the first such internationally recognized exposition to take place in Taiwan, and the seventh of its kind to take place in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It is located near Yuanshan Station. The area is now converted to

Taipei Expo Park The Taipei Expo Park () is a multifunctional park in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. Park facilities The Taipei Expo Park consists of: * Taipei Children's Recreation Center * Yuanshan Marketplace * Yuanshan Plaza ...

Overview

The expo was organized by the

Taipei City Government The Taipei City Government is the municipal government of Taipei. History Taipei was known as Taihoku during Japan's rule of Taiwan, which started in 1895. Initially, the city was directly controlled by the Governor-General of Taiwan. In ...

in partnership with the Taiwan Floriculture Development Association (TFDA). The city was chosen to host the event in April 2006. It was held in the Yuanshan area in Taipei and sites among many of the cities artistic and cultural locations, including the Zhongshan Soccer Stadium, Taipei Children's Recreation Center, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei Story House, and the Lin-An-tai Historical Home. Unlike other suburban exhibitions held in

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

, Hamanako, and

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

, the expo was held in the city center to emphasize the development of more

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...

s. It showcased Taipei's achievements in

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

catering Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

gardening Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of Aesthetics, aesthetically pleasing area ...

, and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

Attendance

Although there had been worries about attendance at the expo, the Taipei mayor noted that with the steady increase in attendance since opening, he was no longer worried. On 15 December 2010, the Expo welcomed its 2 millionth visitor, and on 5 January 2011, it welcomed its 3 millionth visitor. By 5 February 2011, total visitors had reached 4.18 million, with a single day record of 91,676. The popularity of the festival has affected tourist numbers at other popular tourist locations in Taiwan. The expo passed 5 million visitors on 25 February 2011, and reached another single day record of 150,000 visitors on 27 February 2011. By the time the Expo closed on 25 April 2011, over 8.9 million visitors had entered the park, surpassing the original 8 million visitor target.

Areas

The expo was divided up between four major areas: Yuanshan Park, Taipei Artist Park, Xinsheng Park and Dajia Riverside Park. It has 14 pavilions and occupies an area of . Each area was also covered with many outdoor gardens, including a Global Garden Area (featuring exhibits from the

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Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, the

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Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

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Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and more), a

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

-Style Garden, and a Sea of Flowers. In addition, it features more than 800 varieties of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s, 329 million locally developed plant varieties, and award-winning landscape and gardening designs from 22 countries. The expo was based on several major design concepts: *To convey the essence of gardening, science, and environmental protection technology. *To reach the goals of ''reduce'', ''reuse'', and ''recycle''. *To combine culture and art as parts of eco-friendly living. Before

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, the park was decorated with 70,000 poinsettias of various colors to celebrate the holidays.

Pavilions

Of the 14 pavilions in the expo, there are several of note: ;Pavilion of Dreams The building showcased Taiwan's cutting-edge technology in addition to flowers. A 3.5-ton artificial flower hangs from the ceiling, responding to beats in music. In an exhibition room, flat screens showcase 3D images of flowers without the need to use special glasses (using lenticular imaging). A wall of 3-meter-tall

liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal can flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a common direction as i ...

glass panels showed lifelike projections of flowers in the wild. ;Pavilion of Fashion Also known as EcoARK, the building was a three-story structure built using 1.5 million plastic bottles (instead of bricks) to emphasize sustainability and creativity. Three pavilions, the "Pavilion of Dreams", "Pavilion of the Future", and "Pavilion of Angel Life", received the top prize at the 9th Taipei Urban Landscape Awards. Many of the expo specialties (including paper-thin speakers designed by ITRI, displayed at the Pavilion of Dreams) are commercially available as

souvenir A souvenir ( French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and trans ...

References

External links