The World Horti-Expo Garde (shì jiè yuán yì bó lǎn yuán 世界园艺博览园) is the site of the 1999 Kunming International Horticulture Exposition (kūn míng shì jiè yuán yì bó lǎn huì 昆明世界园艺博览会). It is a first class garden with typical Chinese and Yunnan (yún nán 云南) characteristics. Here you can see a grand exhibition of horticulture from everywhere in the world. It is situated in the northern suburbs of Kunming (kūn míng 昆明), 6 km from downtown, next to the Golden Temple (jīn diàn 金殿) scenic spot. It sits at an elevation of 1,920-2,010 meters above sea level, with 218 hectares in area, 2.5 km in length, and 1.1 km in width. The theme of this exposition is "Man and Nature, marching into the 21st century."

The World-expo Garden was designed to be in "perfect harmony" with the surrounding mountains, waters and forest, showing that it originates from and return to the nature. It has hosted a large collection of horticultural and gardening works from different Chinese provinces and municipalities, and also from all over the world. As an international botanical garden, the Expo Garden has become a significant Kunming landmark.

The whole World Horti-Expo Garden can be described as one, two, three, four, five and seven, which means: one theme, two symbols, three outdoor exhibitions, four big squares, five exhibition halls and seven theme gardens. One theme is “Human beings and the nature walk into the 21st century”; two symbols includes emblem and the luck mascot named Lingling (líng líng灵灵); three outdoor exhibitions are the Exhibition Area for Enterprises, the International Outdoor Exhibition Area and the Domestic Outdoor Exhibition Area; four big Squares refers to the Century Plaza, the Performance Plaza, the Huaxia (huá xià 华夏) plaza and the Greeting Plaza; five exhibition halls consists of the China Hall, the Man and Nature Hall, The Green House, the Science and Technology Hall and the International Hall; And seven theme gardens refers to the tree garden, the tea garden, the garden of Bonsai, the Medical Herb Garden, the Bamboo Garden, the Vegetable and Fruit Garden and the Precious and unusual Plant Garden.

Entering the garden, you will find a huge statue of a golden monkey, which is the mascot of the 99 Exposition - Lingling. Golden monkey is one of the rare animals in the world. The word "Ling” (líng 灵) in Chinese means clever and cute.

Near the entrance there is an amazing sea of flowers and a flower clock, which is 19.99meters in diameter, symbolizing the year when the exposition is held. This is the largest open-air flower clock in the world, hence we call it “Flower Clock of the Century” (shì jì huā zhōng 世纪花钟).

The Garden road is decorated by 500,000 pots of flowers, which form 4 gorgeous flower streams, 1 giant flower ship, and 5 flower pillars, 21 meters in height. It implies that the whole world is prosperous and people from all countries were marching into the 21st century hand in hand.

In Century Plaza, there is a stainless steel statue, which is 19.99 meters tall. It is in a shape of an abstract image of calla lily with a name of “Flowers blooming in the new century”. This is where the opening ceremony of the 99’EXPO was held on.

The China Hall is the largest indoor exhibition hall, with a total construction area of 19927 square meters, the reviewing stand area of 3600 square meters, road and ground shop area of 4340 square meters. It covers an area of 33000 square meters. The architectural style of the China Hall combine with Han dynasty palatial garden building and south local-style dwelling houses building. The green tile represent life, and the white walls represent peace and harmony.

Of the 69 countries and 26 international organizations that participate in the EXPO, 32 countries and 2 organizations have built up their permanent sections in the garden. These 34 sections can be divided into Asian, African, European, American, Oceania exhibitions and international organizations.

In the Asia Outdoor Exhibitions Area, there are gardens built by 11 countries. They are Palestine, Vietnam, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Israel, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Japan, Indonesia and India.

Fourteen European countries have built their gardens in this section - Spain, Russia, Britain, Finland, Slovakia, Austria, France, Switzerland, Holland, Moldavia, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland and Denmark. All these gardens reflect the advanced level of gardening and horticulture of the European countries.

And you may find gardens built by Egypt and Sudan in the African Section. The two gardens reflect the features of the African aboriginal cultures and the conceptions that are passed down from Pyramid civilization of Ancient Egypt.

Four American countries joined in this part. They are United States, Canada, Peru and Chile. These four gardens show different cultures and national customs in North and South America.

Address: Baiyun Road, Panlong District, Kunming
Opening hours: 8:00-18:00
Transportation: Take No. 10, No. 68, No. 69, No. 71 buses.
Admission Fee: CNY 100 for adult, CNY 50 for children.
Tips: After 2:00pm, the admission fee is 70 yuan per person; the admission fee for group above 15 people is 30 yuan per person.