The Ningxia Garden: Showing the Landscape Residence of North China like That in the South of the Yangtze River

There are orchards at the foot of the Helan Mountains, the so-called south of the Yangtse River in North China has been famous for a long time. The rough desert, the vigorous Yellow River, the beautiful lakes and the vast plains all reflect the rich and long cultural heritage of this beautiful land --- Ningxia. The Ningxia Exhibition Garden of the Beijing International Horticultural Expo will take the “Impression of Ningxia, the so-called south of the Yangtze River in north China” as the design theme. It will show Ningxia’s characteristic customs, culture, art and plant and flower resources from four aspects: water charm, red culture, ecological construction and homeland of Hui nationality. It will also form a landscape pattern of “mountain, water, dwelling, brilliant purples and reds”.

The exhibition garden will show the charm of red Ningxia with the Liupan Mountains. Chairman Mao Zedong ever described the Liupan Mountains in one of his poems when he led the Chinese Red Army of Workers and Peasants there in Ningxia in 1935. As a result, the Liupan Mountains became a tourist attraction for red culture learning and visiting. The Ningxia Exhibition Garden will imitate the mountain shape of the Liupan Mountains, form a miniature landscape of the Liupan Mountains with earth and rock piles, and plant characteristic plants in the mountains. Mao Zedong’s poem inscribed on the Liupan Mountains will show the spirit of the Red Army’s Long March by horticultural means. This is the “mountain” of the exhibition garden landscape. 

The Yellow River flows through Ningxia. Its Chinese character “几”-shaped water system running through the exhibition garden, which embodies the charm of Ningxia with water charm. The Yellow River flows through the Ningxia Plain beginning from Zhongwei City, Ningxia, with a length of 397 kilometers, bringing rich water resources to Ningxia. The core landscape of the Ningxia Garden is a Chinese character “几”-shaped water system abstracted from the Yellow River. The water system is tortuous and smooth. The plant landscape arranged around the water system fully demonstrates the rich and beautiful scenery of North China in Ningxia. This is the “water” of the exhibition garden landscape.

Ningxia is also the core area of the culture of Chinese Hui nationality. Most Hui dwellings are made of wood carvings or brick carvings in eaves, purlin tenons, brick walls, doors and windows, corridors and other places. They are simple and elegant, with a unique style. On the central side of Ningxia Garden landscape water system, a group of Ningxia folk houses will be decorated with traditional brick carving technology and hollow pattern decoration, and the characteristics of modern architecture and traditional architectural elements will be absorbed. The collision between tradition and modernity, fine crafts and distinctive decorative techniques will show the characteristics of Ningxia traditional folk houses to visitors. This is the “dwelling” of the exhibition garden landscape.

In the landscape pattern of “brilliant purples and reds”, the grape industry and wolfberry industry representing Ningxia will be presented respectively. The area of wolfberry planted in the west of the entrance of the garden will be 120 square meters, and the area of grape planted in the east and middle of the garden will be 160 square meters, which symbolizes the vigorous development of Ningxia’s ecological industry and corresponds to the sub-theme of “green development” and “horticulture in life”.