Qingdao horticultural expo to open with marine, space plants

The Qingdao International Horticultural expo will open in the eastern city of Qingdao on Friday, giving visitors a rare glimpse of plants grown in outer space and the depths of the ocean. The 184-day expo, themed "From the earth, for the Earth," will open on April 25 in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province. This year's expo will feature plants cultivated from seeds carried back by Jiaolong, China's first manned deep-sea submersible, and seeds of plants grown in space and carried back on the Shenzhou Spacecraft. It marks the fourth time for a Chinese mainland city to host a horticultural event of this scale. Over the past 15 years, three similar expos have been held in the cities of Xi'an, Kunming and Shenyang. Visitors to the Qingdao International Horticultural Exposition can feast their eyes on abundant flowers, diversified gardening styles, and the rare marine and space plants. Covering an area of 241 hectares, the expo will be held at Baiguoshan forest park in Licang District. The location is close to Mount Laoshan, known as the "cradle of Taoism." Organizers said a total of 35 countries are participating in the event, which is expected to attract 12 million visitors by the time it concludes on October 25.