A shining jewel in Nanjing’s collection of top tourist destinations is nearing completion in the city’s farther reaches. And if flowers are your thing, get ready to visit the Jiangsu Horticultural Expo, this year returning to Nanjing.
The countdown is on. Just 1 month from today will open the “Jiangsu Garden Expo Park – Weilai Garden”. For almost 3 years, thousands of labourers have toiled to bring to a former quarry new opportunities for Jiangning District’s ecological and global tourism.
“Zidong” is the word the Nanjing government wants on everyone’s lips. Obviously, that’s not happening, at least not now. But in the future, expect the term to be as popular in the local lexicon as, perhaps, Xianlin. And it is in Zidong that we find the Garden Expo Park – Weilai (Future) Garden.
Located to the east of Nanjing, Zidong is today the hotbed for investment into all of Nanjing’s darling industries. Think IT, AI, bio medical and, as the Jiangsu Garden Expo Park goes to show, new leisure and tourism.
And giving the Park the best possible start will be the Jiangsu Horticultural Expo 2021. As an important window for exhibiting Jiangsu gardening skills, the Expo has been held on ten previous occasions. In 2018, the Jiangsu government committed to building the Expo Park for the express purpose of hosting the horticultural fair.
With a planned area of about 6.9 square kilometres, the labourers had their work cut out for them. More than 4,000 workers did not go home for Chinese New Year in order to keep construction on schedule.
Phase one of the development over 3.45 square kilometres features 13 exhibition gardens dotted with pavilions, one for each of the 13 cities of Jiangsu Province. Therein, each displays the city’s local lifestyle and customs, reported Xinhua Jiangsu.
Centerpiece for the Garden Park will be a former cement factory dating from the Republican era. And it is the history of the surrounding area which provides for an exhilarating backdrop for the development.
For the former Longquan Quarry had left behind it nine kilometers of exposed cliff walls. Ideal for tourism developments, the area will be home to no less than four hotels.
The 60,000 square metre Nanjing Banyan Tree Resort will be joined by the Nanjing Westin Hotel Garden Expo and the Autograph Collection Nanjing Garden Expo. And at the slightly more economical end of the scale, the Banshan Hotel, branded by some outlets as “quasi-four star”.
Elsewhere in the Garden Expo Park, other industrial remains and derelict factory buildings have been repurposed, revealed multi-disciplinary design firm, McGregor Coxall.
Flowers or not, the park undoubtedly has in it the makings to be Nanjing’s premier new-tourism destination. The fun starts on 16 April, when the turnstiles open at the Jiangsu Garden Expo Park. We’ll see you there, with flowers in our hair.
