200-day Countdown Begins for Beijing Expo 2019, with Three Tourist Routes Unveiled

On October 11, 2018, an event themed “Sing for the New Era” to celebrate the 200-day countdown to the International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing (hereinafter referred to as “Beijing Expo”) was kicked off at the square of Xiadu Park in Yanqing District, where Beijing Expo will be held. This event featured songs singing praise for China’s commitment to green and eco-friendly development, highlighting the Expo’s theme of “Live Green, Live Better.”

The event “Sing for the New Era” not only presented a wonderful art performance, but also unveiled three attractive tourist routes for the upcoming Beijing Expo 2019: “Delicious Foods and Picturesque Scenery: Travel around Beijing Expo for Joy;” “Roaming in Leisure: Travel around Beijing Expo for Health;” and “Happy Hours: Travel around Beijing Expo with Your Children.” Along the tourist route of “Delicious Foods and Picturesque Scenery,” travelers can visit the nearby Badaling Great Wall, taste Yanqing’s local snacks and delicacies from around the world, go camping, and enjoy the picturesque scenery and starry nights in Expo Park. The tourist route of “Roaming in Leisure” enables tourists to experience the profound horticulture of various parts of the world, visit the ancient Great Wall and former residences of historical celebrities, experience spa therapies in hot springs, and enjoy idyllic landscapes and natural oxygen bars in Expo Park. The tourist route of “Happy Hours” enables parents to escape the pressure of jobs, return to nature with their children, and spend a good time together by traveling the mountains dotted with croplands and orchards, listening to the singing of birds, and appreciating blossoming flowers and green trees.

The three tourist itineraries combine natural landscapes, gardens and culture and are ideal choices for people to seek leisure and recreation, enjoy family activities, maintain health, and purify mind.

On the morning of the day when the event was held, beautiful songs themed on Beijing Expo 2019 such as “Green Beijing,” “Live Happily Forever” and “Three Primary Colors” were performed to convey people’s longing for a better life and echo the Expo’s theme “Live Green, Live Better.”

Before that, a choral competition was staged at the National Library Concert Hall on October 9-10. More than 40 outstanding choruses comprised of over 2,500 singers at the two-day competition were selected from some 10,000 candidates who participated in the singing of Beijing Expo-themed songs in the past more than two months. At the “Sing for the New Era” event, winners of the Excellent Organization Award, Top Ten Choruses Award, and Best Singer Award for the competition were unveiled.

A total of 36 songs that showcase people’s aspiration for a green life, promote sportsmanship and reflect the brilliant cultural connotation of Yanqing—the venue for Beijing Expo 2019, including the Ten Golden Songs for Beijing Expo, Ten Excellent Songs for Beijing Expo, Ten Excellent Theme Songs for Beijing Winter Olympics and Six Excellent Theme Songs for Yanqing District, were compiled into an album as required songs for contestants.

Beijing Expo 2019 will focus on displaying horticultural achievements both at home and abroad, in a bid to create a pageant gathering essences of previous Expos and gardening masterpieces from around the world and build an open platform for horticultural exchange of various countries and international organizations. Relying on the natural mountains, rivers, forests and farmlands, Beijing Expo features nearly 100 gardens of various styles and designs scattered around a land of 503 hectares, composing a huge park with blooming flowers. Strolling around the Expo Park full of various flowers, visitors can also enjoy its core structures including “four pavilions and one center”: the China Pavilion in the shape of a jade ruyi (a curved decorative object that serves as a ceremonial scepter symbolizing good fortune), the International Pavilion in the shape of an umbrella, the Plants Pavilion where visitors can deepen their understanding of nature, the Life Experience Pavilion that can inspire nostalgia of the countryside, and the Performing Arts Center appearing like a dancing butterfly. The entire Expo Park combines natural elements such as mountains, rivers, forests, croplands and flowers and composes a poetic landscape painting depicting an enchanting fairyland.

Soon, construction projects of Beijing Expo 2019 will be completed, and the focus of its preparatory work will shift to exhibition installation and management. The organizing committee plans to promulgate volunteer policies and begin volunteer recruitment in the days to come.