Similarly, during the design phase of the China Pavilion, the Academician Cheng Taining, out of the same consideration, willingly adjusted his scheme, moving the position of the originally designed building backward to embrace two ancient banyan trees, creating a symbiotic relationship that has now become the popular photo spot Banyan Garden. The entrance of the British Garden features large native trees preserved, which, together with the lawn, form a typical English garden landscape. Such stories are found throughout the garden: the expo site has protected nine century-old banyan trees and over 17,000 new trees are planted. These living green beings eloquently bespeak China’s practice of ecological civilization construction — the Garden Expo is the very picture of the harmony between humanity and the green nature.

Today, as I inspect this soon-to-be-completed site, I often recall my first time standing on this garden ground three years ago. Back then, there was only the wind from the Oujiang River and lines on blueprints. Now, the wind carries the languages of gardens from various countries, the murmurs of ancient banyans and new green shoots, and the approaching footsteps of visitors. This is not an exhibition — it is a manifesto about how Wenzhou, in its own way, tells the world the Eastern green story of ecological civilization.