Visitors to the Shanghai Expo can enjoy roof gardens at the China Pavilion this May. The concept comes from the Jiuzhou Scenic Area of Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace. The Scenic Area from the Qing Dynasty is believed to be the concentration of half the culture of the dynasty. Let's take a look at how the area at the Shanghai Expo has been designed.

 

Around the China pavilion, are provincial pavilions. They represent the essential core cultures of each province. Now the roofs will be equally marvelous. Roof gardens of over 30 thousand square meters have been designed here.

There are 8 provincial halls. 8 different kinds of geographic areas will be built on them, wetland, mountains, forests and desert. Along with the main building, they represent China's vast tracts of land. Designers say they're so big they could lower the temperature at the expo by 3 degree Celsius.

They've gone to great lengths to create them.

Su Shouliang, director of Gardening, China Pavilion, said, "It's windier on the roof than on the ground. So to prevent the trees on the roof from falling down, we figured out a way to fix them onto the ground. And in order to reduce the weight of the gardens, we used plastic materials for the main body of the fake mountains, and then covered them with earth."

In order to enable visitors to enjoy the view from various angles, a pool has been created in the northeast part of the area. So when visitors walk there, they can see the reflection from the gardens on the water's surface.