Beijing horticultural expo to record highest attendance of countries, int'l organizations

Eighty-six countries and 24 international organizations have confirmed participation in the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition 2019, its organizing committee said Wednesday.

A pavilion for the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition is under construction. [File photo: VCG]

Over 120 non-official exhibitors have also confirmed attendance for the Beijing expo, which has the highest attendance of countries and international organizations in the global event's history, according to Wang Hong, Beijing vice mayor.

Open from April 29 to October 7 next year, the 162-day expo will exhibit the latest achievements in floriculture, and fruit and vegetable farming at the foot of the Great Wall in northwest Beijing's Yanqing District.

Visitors can enjoy more than 2,500 cultural activities such as parades throughout the expo.

This is the second time for China to hold such a high-level horticulture expo. Southwestern Chinese city Kunming held the expo in 1999.

China's flower industry is now in full bloom, with plantation area expanding from about 14,000 hectares in 1984 to about 1.4 million hectares in 2018, the largest in the world. Sales volume surged from 600 million yuan (87.1 million U.S. dollars) to 153.3 billion yuan during the same period.