Beijing residents and visitors can see the Potala Palace, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Three Gorges Dam
during the National Day "Golden Week" celebration and all without
leaving Tian'anmen Square. No herculean miracles of engineering
have been accomplished to bring these wonders to Beijing, the
square is only home to replicas of the above.
Other colorful features are a themed parterre made of hundreds
of thousands of flowerpots and giant statues of the five
Friendlies, the 2008 Olympics mascots.
"We have tried to combine gardening techniques with current
social themes in the best way," said Zhou Jianping, vice-director
of Beijing Gardening and Forestation Bureau. "This year the
increased number of displays are more eye-catching than ever
before."
A 1:25 scale replica of Lhasa's Potala Palace in front of the
Great Hall of the People celebrates the completion of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway. A "train" coated with Chinese flowering
crab-apples runs across the "Qinghai-Tibet Plateau" and arrives at
"Lhasa," representing the capital of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
The Friendlies' statues will be illuminated at night to grace
the 60-meter-long parterre set near the center of the square. The
parterre is made up of 120 kinds of flowers and 500,000 flowerpots,
with the theme of unity across all peoples.
"Of the 120 kinds, 50 are new species, and are also candidates
for the 2008 Olympics decorations," Zhou said. "All the large
ornamental flowers and bonsais will be transferred back to
nurseries in the Beijing suburbs, as we have been doing for years,
and other annual flowers will be recycled as fertilizer."
Zhou said the design of the square's decoration this year has
kept the public in mind. The parterre has been moved 10 meters to
the south compared with previous years, allowing more people to
watch the flag-raising on Sunday morning.
A large fountain sits in the middle of the parterre, shooting
water as high as 38 meters.
"Technicians will lower the amount of gushing water when it is
windy to avoid spraying tourists nearby," Zhou said.
"We really enjoy seeing the flowery architecture here. It is one
of the most beautiful birthday gifts to our great republic," said
Wang Xiaoying, a visitor from East China's Shandong Province, on holiday in the capital
with her family.
Besides the decorations in the Tian'anmen area, Beijing is a sea
of flowers, with more than 3 million flowerpots prepared and
arranged by community centers, companies and organizations.
(China Daily September 30, 2006)
