Taiwan Today

The host city of a grand flora exposition starting in early November, Taipei will welcome flower lovers from around the world.

By late July, partially landscaped plots of lush and varied vegetation in a Taipei City park had piqued interest in how they would look when completed, as had two environmentally friendly buildings at the site. Although still empty, the structures attracted the eye, one with its large windows, the other with “living walls” of plants and both with solar panels across their roofs. If the semi-completed sights in the capital city’s Xinsheng Park—one of the four areas where the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition will take place—had already started to draw attention by summer, the soft opening of the event in early October prior to the official launch on November 6 would surely leave visitors even more impressed.

“This is the first large-scale international exposition hosted by Taiwan, so many artists and artisans are eager to take part,” says Serina Lai, founder and curator of Angel Art Gallery based in Taipei, which will operate the Pavilion of Angel Life at the expo. “I prefer to showcase a small number of works by high-quality artists, but it’s so difficult to choose among them,” she says. The Pavilion of Angel Life plans to exhibit works from some 100 local as well as international artists and artisans during the exposition, which runs through April 25, 2011.

Lai’s pavilion is housed with the Pavilion of Future in one of two newly built green buildings in Xinsheng Park, while the Pavilion of Dreams takes up the other building. The government-funded Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Taiwan Floriculture Development Association (TFDA) operate the Pavilion of Dreams and Pavilion of Future respectively. The Pavilion of Dreams was planned to showcase floral-themed exhibits featuring state-of-the-art digital interactive technologies, while the Pavilion of Future was designed to show the most advanced agricultural and gardening technologies.

The flower show is seen as an opportunity to present local achievements in floriculture and related industries, as well as increase Taiwan’s visibility in the international community. “An international expo is a great chance to demonstrate the cultural, technological and other aspects of a country’s soft power,” says Chen Hsiung-wen, commissioner of the Department of Economic Development under Taipei City Government and chief executive officer of the Flora Expo’s operational headquarters.

“You have to count on big events like this to promote Taiwan in general on the world stage and market its horticultural products worldwide,” Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Sheng-chung says.

The Taipei event can be traced back to January 2004 when the TFDA became a member of the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH), which was set up in Switzerland in 1948 to help market flowers, plants and landscaping services the world over. Two years later, the TFDA and the Taipei City Government under then Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, who is now the president of the Republic of China, applied to the AIPH to host the 2010 Flora Expo in Taiwan’s capital city. At the AIPH’s annual conference in Genoa, northern Italy in April 2006, Lin Sheng-chung, who was then commissioner of Taipei City Government’s Department of Economic Development, put forward a proposal for hosting the event, which won wide approval from association members. Thus, Taipei became the seventh Asian city to organize the international show.

Originally the city government planned to hold the exposition at Guandu, a suburban area in northern Taipei not far from the mouth of the Danshui River. After Hau Lung-bin came to office as mayor at the end of 2006, the venue was shifted to the current site, which focuses on an area known as Yuanshan, by the city’s Keelung River. “Parts of the land that would have been used for the exposition at Guandu are privately owned, and it would’ve taken time to handle the land use issues, whereas the land marked out for the event at Yuanshan is all publicly owned,” says Lin, explaining the change of venue.

According to the final plan, the exposition site measures a total of 91.8 hectares across four areas, all of which are in the city’s downtown Zhongshan District. The four areas are the Fine Arts Park next to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Yuanshan Park, Xinsheng Park and Dajia Riverside Park on the Keelung River. There are outdoor areas featuring landscaped plots and gardens, as well as 14 pavilions providing indoor display areas, each with a specific theme. As much as 77 percent of the total area of the expo will be covered with plants and flowers, according to the main organizer, the Taipei City Government, with a total of 30 million plants divided into five flowering periods expected to be used during the six-month-long event. About 90 percent of the plants to be used have been grown in Taiwan.

According to the organizer, the exposition is financed by a budget of about NT$9.5 billion (US$297 million) from the city and central governments, as well as corporate sponsors. The construction of new buildings and the conversion of existing ones have cost more than NT$2 billion (US$62 million), and the purchase of flowers and plants used at the exposition will reach this amount, too. The remainder of the budget is to be spent on various aspects, such as publicity and operating expenses, including running free shuttle buses for expo visitors.

Highlights of the outdoor displays include the Xinsheng Park Area’s Fujian Style Garden, which should be familiar to most local visitors, as Taiwan’s traditional architecture originates from the south of mainland China’s Fujian province, or Southern Min region. There is also a 1.2-hectare international section in the Fine Arts Park Area comprised of 22 gardens reflecting the distinct national characteristics of countries participating in the expo. Representing countries and cities from around the world, these exotic gardens are designed to provide a rich feast for the eyes and an authentic example of international gardens.

Invitation to the World

According to the Taipei City Government, individuals and organizations from 45 countries have applied to take part in the event, with representatives from 33 countries, including Japan, mainland China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Chile and Kenya, having already received approval by early August. International participation in the expo is mostly manifested in the international garden section, but there are also a number of foreign contestants, who will take part in flower arranging competitions during the event.

In the Expo Orchard in the Yuanshan Park Area, Taipei City Government is cooperating with the Council of Agriculture (COA) to exhibit fruit trees and fruit cultivation technologies developed in Taiwan over the years, such as techniques to grow and harvest fruit out of season. The Yuanshan Park Area is also to show a selection of rare plants from abroad, while the Taiwan Flower Area at the Dajia Riverside Park Area is to feature Taiwan’s native flowers and plants.

As to indoor exhibitions, the 14 pavilions—including eight existing structures—are likely to be big drawing cards. Zhongshan Stadium in the Yuanshan Park Area, dubbed the Expo Dome for the duration of the event, is home to a flower exhibition. Renewed regularly, the exhibition will display a sea of flowers from Taiwan and around the world. The dome also features flower arranging contests, plus special demonstrations such as those of Ikenobo, Japan’s oldest school of the art of flower arrangement.

The Expo Theater makes use of an existing 3-D cinema, also in the Yuanshan Park Area, where visitors can take in films introducing Taiwan’s ecological environment and the threats facing it. At Yuanshan’s Celebrity’s House, a converted Japanese-style home, fans can pay tribute to Teresa Teng (1953–1995), perhaps the best known singer to ethnic Chinese around the world. The performer was known for her love of roses, which will be the flowers on display at the site.

Across Zhongshan North Road at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the gallery will host exhibitions of flower-themed works by Claude Monet and Paul Gauguin, among others. The themes of art and culture will continue through the Xinsheng Park Area with the Pavilion of Angel Life, which aims to help its visitors learn to enjoy the good life. While artworks will be exhibited on the pavilion’s ground floor, Serina Lai says that the second floor will offer a range of services to help visitors relax such as offering meals made from organic foods, musical performances and even massages to soothe away the stresses of city living. In addition, about 7,000 artistic performances will be staged at 10 venues throughout the exposition site during the six-month event.

Best in Bonsai

Sandy Chao, manager of Craftsmen International Design Co., which is charged with running the Pavilion of Regimen, says the converted two-story building in the Xinsheng Park Area will house Taiwan’s best bonsai works. “Some owners of top-class bonsai plants have refused to display their treasures in public or to enter any bonsai contests before now, but they’re willing to display them for the expo,” she says, adding that all the bonsai works on display are so valuable that they are insured. The name of the pavilion is drawn from the specific regimens used to cultivate the plants. The Pavilion of Regimen will exhibit a total of 460 bonsai works, which will make their appearance as the seasons change, with visitors being able to admire about 100 works at any given time.

Having practiced the art of bonsai for 28 years and currently teaching a course on the subject at a community college, Lin Ching-hsiang is helping Chao perfect the bonsai show. Lin spent more than one year visiting bonsai owners around Taiwan and encouraging them to take part in the exposition. “I tried to make them feel a sense of mission. As the owners of top bonsai works, they need to let the public know that Taiwan performs quite well in this respect,” he says. During the expo, Lin will also play the role of “bonsai doctor” at the pavilion, offering advice to average bonsai cultivators on how to take care of their plants.

In addition to the content of the various exhibitions, the newly built pavilions are likely to be a focus of attention in their own right for their striking designs and environmentally friendly features. Visitors to the Pavilion of New Fashion in Yuanshan Park are likely to be impressed by the use of recycled plastic bottles as its building material. Xinsheng Park’s Expo Hall is built in the shape of a giant pupa, and will stage the opening and closing ceremonies of the Flora Expo. The Expo Hall has been planned as an open-concept structure and incorporates natural ventilation. Also in the Xinsheng Park Area, the two buildings sitting side by side—one housing the Pavilion of Angel Life and the Pavilion of Future, and the other the Pavilion of Dreams—feature solar-paneled, grass-covered roofs and systems for recycling rainwater.

Building Magic

The latter two buildings in the Xinsheng Park Area were designed by a team led by architect Chang Ching-hwa, who also created the landmark branch of the Taipei Public Library in Beitou, which opened to the public in November 2006. The two structures built for the expo have won diamond label certification, the highest standard for “green buildings” as set by the central government in 1999.

The Xinsheng Park Area buildings are so noteworthy that the Discovery Channel featured them in its Eco Taiwan: Building Magic program, which was first broadcast across much of Asia in late March. In addition, National Geographic has filmed the Pavilion of New Fashion for its MegaStructures series to air in January 2011.

Two documentaries, however, are not enough to promote the Flora Expo abroad. To publicize the event, Taipei City Mayor Hau Lung-bin has been to Japan, mainland China and Hong Kong, the three places that sent the most tourists to Taiwan last year, with 1 million, 970,000 and 720,000 visitors respectively. The number of mainland tourists is expected to increase phenomenally, especially because they are likely to obtain permission to visit Taiwan as individual travelers next year. At present, mainland tourists can only visit Taiwan as part of a tour group.

In addition, the city’s downtown Taipei Songshan Airport, only about a 10-minute drive from the exposition site, established a direct link with Hongqiao Airport in downtown Shanghai in June and was to open another with Haneda Airport in downtown Tokyo at the end of this month, greatly shortening the travel time for visitors to the Flora Expo from these two megacities. Previously tourists from Shanghai and Tokyo had to fly from Pudong Airport and Narita Airport respectively, which are both far from the centers of these two cities. For visitors from Tokyo, the new link is even more significant, since they will no longer have to enter Taipei through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, which is approximately a 50-minute drive from downtown Taipei.

Meanwhile, designated as the partner airline of the Flora Expo, Eva Air is offering preferential airfares to members of organizations involved in the expo. During the event, Eva Air will also give individual travelers on its package tours a free entry ticket to the flower show. The Taiwan-based carrier also worked with the FamilyMart convenience store chain in Japan, with the latter helping to promote the expo throughout the chain’s 7,700 shops around that country from early July to early August. In addition, four Eva Air “concept planes” decorated with a Flora Expo theme have taken to the skies since February on selected routes in East Asia.

The expo organizer has taken additional measures to ensure convenient on-site transportation for visitors. Shuttle buses will connect the four event areas, with an additional two bus routes connecting the expo site and the city’s Mass Rapid Transit system. All the buses are hybrid vehicles and free to ride. Meanwhile, the organizers plan to turn the Keelung River, which marks the northern border of the expo site, into a “blue highway” by offering river cruises from the Dajia Riverside Park Area. Boat riders will be able to travel two stops upriver, providing access to the traditional Raohe Night Market and the Miramar Entertainment Park, a shopping mall with a 70-meter Ferris wheel.

The organizer estimates that the exposition will attract some 8 million people, with around 10 percent of them coming from abroad. AIPH president Doeke Faber is scheduled to arrive for the opening, as are representatives from Taipei’s sister cities around the world. Organizers said they felt encouraged by the number of ticket pre-sales, which had already topped 3 million by early August. The total economic benefit directly and indirectly generated by the event is expected to reach NT$16.8 billion (US$525 million), including revenue from ticket sales and advertising, as well as sales by stallholders at the expo and the increased business at local restaurants, hotels and other tourism-related establishments.

Flower growers are another group of people benefiting from the event. “I may need to hire temps in October to help out on my flower farm as the exposition gears up to open,” says Yang Chao-wei, who has been growing flowers in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, for about 14 years. According to Yang, one of the major local flower growers providing plants and flowers for the event, the exposition organizer is pickier and more demanding than his other clients, which increases his costs as well as the pressure on him. On the other hand, he is able to command a better price for these premium products, Yang says. Thanks to the great amount of orders, he estimates a 10 percent rise in profits compared with normal years.

Domestic flower growers and florists are also expected to benefit from the general promotion of horticulture among local consumers. In Taiwan, people buy flowers only when prices are low, says Sandy Chao, but in countries like Japan flowers are a necessity for most households. “The exposition should be able to stimulate flower purchases by average consumers in the future,” she says.

The Flora Expo is planned not only to impress visitors and create business opportunities, but also to have a lasting impact on Taipei citizens after it ends next spring, in particular from the additional green spaces created throughout the city. The Taipei City Government has been clearing up, beautifying and greening vacant spaces citywide since 2008. Most of these spaces are publicly owned, but a number of privately owned sites have also received a green facelift courtesy of the city government. A total of 350 such spaces will have undergone a greening treatment by the end of the year.

Green Legacy

When the party for horticulture lovers is over, a large memorial park marking the 2010 Flora Expo is planned covering much of the Xinsheng Park and Fine Arts Park areas. All the existing buildings converted for specific exhibitions during the exposition will revert to their original state, while all except one of the newly constructed buildings will remain in operation at the site. According to the Taipei City Government, the Expo Hall will become a performance venue operated by its Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Pavilion of Aroma of Flowers, where visitors can stop in for expo souvenirs and snack foods, will be taken over by the Indigenous Peoples Commission and reused as a venue showcasing Taiwan’s indigenous cultures. As for the highly recognizable complex in the Xinsheng Park Area, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the COA will operate the Pavilion of Dreams and the Pavilion of Future respectively as exhibition venues. According to its contract with the city government, Angel Art Gallery will run the Pavilion of Angel Life for a further nine years before it is handed over to the city. Only the Pavilion of New Fashion will be dismantled, but it will be reassembled at a future date in Taiwan or mainland China, although details are not yet available.

For now, holding a successful exposition is certainly the priority job for organizers. “In the test run in October, we’ll encourage visitors to be picky and find fault with the exposition, so that we can make further improvements and offer good services when the event is officially launched,” says Taipei City Government’s Chen Hsiung-wen, adding that there will be a lucky draw for those who fill in comment cards.

To demonstrate the progress they had made in preparing for the Flora Expo, in late July Serina Lai of Angel Art Gallery invited Chen and other city government officials to the gallery on Taipei’s Xinyi Road, where staff gave a sample of the services they plan to offer at the Pavilion of Angel Life starting this fall. Guests were guided through an art exhibition in seven languages and then treated to delicate snacks accompanied by music and films about Taiwan’s flowers, landscape and ecology. “This is about only one-tenth of what I plan to present at the exposition,” says Lai, suggesting the real thing will be even more impressive.

As to the grand event starting in early November, just like visitors to the Pavilion of Angel Life, those to the rest of the expo can certainly anticipate more surprises and excitement.

Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw