Taiwan Today

Flower lovers and cultural enthusiasts alike will have special reason to visit Taipei between Nov. 5, 2010, and April 25, 2011, when the city hosts the 2010 International Floral Exhibition. It will be the third time in two years that Taiwan has hosted an event with participants from around the world invited to attend. As Chen Hsiung-wen, chief executive officer overseeing preparations for the Floral Exhibition, put it: “After the World Games in Kaohsiung in July and the Taipei Deaflympics in September, we have now been given the baton as the third runner in a relay race.” Mindful of their great responsibilities, organizers have spared no efforts to put on a good show. More than 1,600 types of locally grown flowers, spread out over 91.8 hectares and displayed in more than 14 venues, will blossom for the delight of the city’s guests. In Yuanshan Park, an area of 17,000 square meters will be filled with hundreds and thousands of potted flowers, fluttering and dancing in the gentle breeze coming from the Danshui River nearby. Not far from Yuanshan will be the Global Garden Area, which will feature a wide variety of exotic plants and flowers, the gifts of friendship and solidarity given by cities from around the world. There will also be an EXPO Orchard, dedicated to showcasing not flowers, but the enormous variety of fruit trees found throughout Taiwan. During the 171-day event, visitors will also have the opportunity to see performances featuring local arts and theater groups, domestic and international floral competitions, and fashion design shows. Taiwan’s high-tech and green-energy sectors will be highlighted as well. There will also be a special exhibition featuring works by impressionist painter Claude Monet, whose works are deeply inspired by flowers. In hosting the event, Taipei is not only receiving the baton from the World Games and the Deaflympics. It is also receiving a baton, or perhaps a rose, that has been passed from city to city for more than 50 years. The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), established in Switzerland in 1948, is dedicated to the promotion of the international marketing of flowers, plants and landscaping services. Its mission includes safeguarding horticultural breeders’ rights, protecting the environment, and the review and approval of international horticultural expositions. It currently has 33 members from 25 countries. The Taiwan Floriculture Development Association was granted AIPH membership in 2004. In April 2006 TFDA teamed up with the Taipei City Government, during the term of former mayor of Taipei Ma Ying-jeou, now the nation’s president, to submit an application for hosting the 2010 exposition. AIPH approved of Taipei’s application in November 2006 with overwhelming support from the majority of AIPH members, recalled Chen, who was and still is commissioner of Taipei’s Department of Economic Development. “In the early days of AIPH, the main purpose for hosting an international flora exposition was to help resuscitate cities whose infrastructure had suffered severe damage during World War II,” explained Chen. Later on, the objective shifted to boosting the economic energy of the host city and making it a more desirable place to live, he added. Taipei is the seventh city in Asia to become the host of this internationally renowned gardening event. The others are Osaka, Japan (1990); Kunming, mainland China (1999); Awaji, Japan (2000); Hamanako, Japan (2004); Shenyang, mainland China (2006); and Chiang Mai, Thailand (2006). It will be the first time in four years that a city in Asia has hosted the event. Like many other international events, such as the Olympics and the World Fair, the Flora Expo presents the host city with an opportunity to spruce itself up and make itself known. Hosting the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo will demonstrate not only the technological capability of Taiwan’s gardening and horticulture industry, it will also directly benefit local flower growers as well, who will supply more than 90 percent of the flowers and plants to be displayed at the exposition, Chen stressed. With the planned use of more than 40 million local flowers and plants, the 2010 exposition will invest over NT$1 billion (US$30.8 million) in planting and NT$770 million in transforming Taipei into a garden city. An estimated NT$400 million in flower sales during the exposition and an investment of NT$2.2 billion next year will increase the output value of Taiwan’s floriculture industry by 23 percent, according to estimates. Taipei is doing its best to upgrade its public facilities and raise eco-awareness among its residents to ensure the expo is a big success. The DED predicts direct revenues generated from the Taipei Expo will reach NT$2.36 billion, including NT$1.26 billion in admissions, NT$300 million in business franchise fees, NT$500 million in advertisement earnings and NT$300 million in endorsements from enterprises. Indirect revenues of NT$8.8 billion will come from taxes (NT$600 million), tourism and recreation (NT$7.2 billion) and increased floriculture output value (NT$1 billion). More than 8 million people are expected to attend the exhibition, of which 90 to 95 percent will be local visitors, and 5 to 10 percent will be from overseas, based on the DED’s preliminary estimates. “By hosting this event, we hope to continue improving Taiwan’s global visibility, thus helping us win more international support,” Chen said. He summed up his feelings by saying, “Let the world see Taipei, and let Taipei embrace the world.” For more information, please log on to: http://www.2010taipeiexpo.tw Write to Lishan Chang at lishan@mail.gio.gov.tw