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

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. It was a garden festival recognized by the

International Association of Horticultural Producers The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH / IAHP) is a trade association dedicated to promoting horticultural producers and held the international garden / flora festivals or expositions. AIPH aims to put flower, plant and l ...

(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 one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. It is located near

Yuanshan Station Yuanshan () is a metro station in Taipei, Taiwan served by Taipei Metro. It is a station on the . There was a station of the same name on the now-defunct Tamsui railway line. Station overview The two-level, elevated station structure with one ...

. The area is now converted to Taipei Expo Park.

Overview

The expo was organized by the

Taipei City Government The Taipei City Government (TCG) is the municipal government of Taipei. History The Taihoku City Government was founded on 10 October 1920 in Taihoku Prefecture during Japanese colonial rule. The original city hall was located at the site ...

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 Zhongshan Soccer Stadium, Chungshan Soccer Stadium, or Taipei Soccer Stadium () was a multi-purpose stadium in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. It was established in 1923 as during the Japanese period. The soccer stadium was opened in 1989, ...

, Taipei Children's Recreation Center,

Taipei Fine Arts Museum The Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM; ) is a museum in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is in the Taipei Expo Park. The museum first opened on August 8, 1983, at the former site of the United States Taiwan Defense Command. It was the first ...

Taipei Story House The Taipei Story House (), formerly known as the Yuanshan Mansion (), is a historic house in Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is currently open as a museum in the Taipei Expo Park. Overview The house was built in 1913–14 during Japanes ...

, and the Lin-An-tai Historical Home. Unlike other suburban exhibitions held in

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

Hamanako is a brackish lagoon in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Formerly a true lake, it is now connected to the Pacific Ocean by a channel. As an internal body of water, it is considered Japan's tenth-largest lake (by area). It spans the boundaries of the ...

, and

Chang Mai Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...

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

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces ar ...

s. It showcased Taipei's achievements in

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

catering Catering is the business of providing food service 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 servi ...

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, frui ...

, and

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

Attendance

Although there had been worries about attendance at the expo, the

Taipei mayor The Mayor of Taipei is the head of the Taipei City Government and is elected to a four-year term. Until the election of Tsai Ing-wen, the office was seen as a stepping stone to the presidency: presidents Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-j ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Belau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

and more), a

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of 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 ...

-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. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of floweri ...

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 the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

, 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 may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. Th ...

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 The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI; ) is a technology research and development institution in Taiwan. Founded in 1973, ITRI has contributed to moving Taiwan's industries from labor-intensive to innovation-driven. ITRI is hea ...

, displayed at the Pavilion of Dreams) are commercially available as

souvenir A souvenir (), 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 transported home by the traveler as a m ...

References

External links