◎ Contemporary Expressions of Chinese Landscape

Beside the Italian Garden, we insisted on preserving a 200-meter-long water conservancy tunnel, transforming it into an immersive temporal-spatial waterway. Dynamic projections on the ceiling recreate how grapes and pomegranates traveled along the Silk Road into China two millennia ago. As small boats come out from the tunnel, the suddenly revealed Chinese classical garden area — Mountain Dwelling Paradise, using classical Chinese gardening techniques and reproducing the ideal environment from The Peach Blossom Spring by Tao Yuanming — creates a“ time-traveling”dialogue with the foreign gardens on the other side.

This Garden Expo is set amid authentic mountains and waters, tracing the origins of Chinese landscape gardening while celebrating the distinctive scenery of Zhejiang.

At the summit of Xianmen Mountain stands Guogong Tower, designed by Master Li Yonghong. It carries forward the city-building philosophy of Guo Pu, the founder of Chinese Feng Shui who, 1,700 years ago, chose the nine mountains that defined Wenzhou’s original site. Rising beside the lake, the China Pavilion—the Expo’s main exhibition hall—is designed by Academician Cheng Taining. Its undulating eaves echo the rolling mountains of Wenzhou and the rhythmic silhouettes of sails on the East China Sea. “Like mountains and waves, layered eaves and shifting shadows,” the design blends modern structural systems with traditional poetic imagery to create a contemporary expression of Chinese landscape aesthetics. Together with Guogong Tower, it creates a dialogue of high and low, ancient and modern, shaping a mutually respectful panorama.

◎ Life Lessons in Harmony Between People and Nature

A 200-year-old banyan tree in the garden once taught us a profound lesson: when we entered the construction site, we discovered that the hardening of the construction road and heavy vehicle traffic had damaged its root system, causing a large-scale yellowing of the leaves — a critical situation. After thorough discussion, we resolutely demolished the completed concrete pavement. When workers shattered the stone road that had oppressed the tree's roots, the tree was able to breathe more freely. The following spring, new green buds sprouted from the withered branches, and the old tree regained its health. Later, we relocated the road away from the tree and built nearby a station for rest, allowing more people, with peace of mind, to experience the harmonious beauty between humanity and nature.