Stunning Beijing Olympic Topiary Gardens
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As the world’s gaze falls upon Beijing this summer, one of the most breathtaking sights to take in at the 29th Olympic Games is the dazzling botanical display for the Olympic Topiary Gardens of artistic garden sculptures — an exhibit depicting the beauty and value of biodiversity and ongoing efforts of 80 botanic gardens from more than 25 countries to preserve our natural plant heritage.
The exhibit will be displayed at the Science and Technology Park near the Olympic Village, Beijing, China from July 8th to September 8th 2008 where you can take in the sights free of charge.
Photo BCGI
The distinctive World Botanic Gardens Exhibition for “Homes for plants, Gardens for humans” is the culmination of months of hard work by organizers Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Botanic Gardens Popular Network, Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Committee, and Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI).
More than 40 million plants and flowers of over 500 varieties will also be used to adorn key areas such as the Tiananmen Square, the road towards Capital Airport, the Olympic Central Zone, and other significant areas.
There will be 360,000 square meter athlete apartments in the Olympic garden, an Olympic Forest Park of 867 hectares with 200 hectare dragon-shaped lake area, 50 hectares of the Museum of Chinese Nation, 405 hectares of exhibition center and the Olympic Village.
Around the central area of Olympic Games will be 8 newly-fashioned hotels, 5 luxury hotels, 3 golf courses, 8 shopping plazas, 4 food streets, and 10 major shopping malls.
Professor Zhang Wenjie, of Beijing Jiaotong University, said the cost for removing and treating the household garbage collected from the apartments alone will hit 1.08 billion yuan (about $157.5 billion US).
Beijing cranked up an ‘Olympic greening’ for a major ‘garden city’ campaign by decorating 100,000 square meters of roofs with gardens mainly in areas close to the 2008 Olympic facilities, the Capital International Airport and along the 2nd and 3rd arterial ring roads.
Residents who face onto the street have also been encouraged to decorate their balcony with flowers to show their Olympic spirit.
Zhou Jianping, an official with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscaping and Forestry, said the municipal government would finance the project.
“Passengers will see blocks of green when their planes fly over the airport area.” he said at an ongoing training program on roof greening techniques, that has drawn more than 200 landscape workers nationwide.
About 8 million square meters of grayish roofs in the airport area made an ugly first impression on first-time travelers to the Chinese capital, Zhou added.
“Roofs that are highly waterproof and can support at least 330 pounds (150 kilos) per square yard/meter [will be decorated].” he said. Those that failed these standards were to be painted more colorfully.
There are more than 50 Olympic gardens in 43 cities throughout China, including China Sports Olympic Garden, Shanghai Olympic Garden, Beijing Olympic Garden, Guangzhou Olympic Garden, and Tianjin Olympic Garden.
Three gardens, 23 feet (7 meters) lower than the ground surface, have been built under the fencing gym of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in order to save energy without the aid of air conditioners, the Olympic project contractor said.
The gardens, covering an area of 1,300 square yards (1,200 meters), could see the underground temperature lower than a normal room temperature, according to a spokesman of the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) that designs the gardens.
He said cool air could come naturally with the effect of 3 dormer windows built on the top of the fencing gymnasium that produces air convection out of air pressure caused by the temperature difference between the gym and gardens.
Both the gardens and fencing gyms are built in the National Conference Center, one of the landmark buildings in the Olympic park in northern Beijing.
“People in the conference center can feel cool without air conditioner even in the heat of summer.” said a BCEG engineer.
Experts estimate that about 380,000 kwh of electricity could be saved annually for the center.
Dancing Beijing emblem depicted in a flower garden.
Dancing Beijing is the name of the official emblem of the 2008 Summer Olympics, unveiled in August 2003 in a ceremony at Qi Nian Dian — the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in Beijing’s Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven).
The emblem draws on various elements of Chinese culture, depicting a traditional red Chinese seal above the words “Beijing 2008″ and the Olympic rings. The seal is inscribed with a stylized calligraphic rendition of the Chinese character (jīng, meaning ‘capital,’ from the name of the host city) in the form of a dancing figure.
The curves are also claimed to suggest the body of a wriggling Chinese dragon. The open arms of the figure symbolize the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. The figure also resembles that of a runner crossing the finish line. Red, the dominant color of the emblem, is an important color in Chinese society, often signifying good luck.
Decorative flower garden in Tiananmen Square depicting various Olympic sports.
Chinese laborer plants flowers at a garden for the Beijing Olympic Games to adorn
Tiananmen Square, June 5, 2008 in Beijing, China. Photo Guang Niu / Getty Images
The Olympic slogan, “One World, One Dream” calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.
Statistics state that in 2008, more than 200 countries and regions will participate in the Beijing Olympic Games.
A large number of parterres have been erected on both sides of Chang’an Street
to decorate the Chinese capital ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games,
to be held in August. Photo Xinhua
Ornamental parterre in the Xidan commercial area beside Chang’an Street in Beijing
July 10, 2008. Photo Xinhua
Ornamental parterre beside Chang’an Street in Beijing July 10, 2008. Photo Xinhua
Ornamental parterre beside Chang’an Street in Beijing July 10, 2008. Photo Xinhua
Ornamental parterre beside Chang’an Street in Beijing July 10, 2008. Photo Xinhua
Ornamental parterre beside Chang’an Street in Beijing July 10, 2008. Photo Xinhua
Special thanks to Rick for sending most of these images.
Sources: CRI, China.org, China Daily, BCGI, Beijing Review, and Wikipedia
Tags:arts Beijing Olympic Games botanical features flowers garden sculptures Olympic Gardens plants science Science and Technology Park topiary World Botanic Gardens
That is amazing, the artistic tallent of some people leave me breathless I love the dancing Beijing emblem
WOW! These are awesome!! I’m not a big fan of the Olympics being in China, but those are some awesome topiaries.
Oh my God! these are amazing, I am shamed even more with a green thumb that is more a shade of fading, shriveling yellow/green
Jaki from whimsical garden decor
There is a lot of symbolism within the Dancing Beijing Emblem, and indeed beautiful, Dan
They’re all very stunning, Andrew
Haha, I wouldn’t stand a chance to even come close to anything like this myself, Jaki
The enormity of it all makes me want to be there, to be part of the Beijing Olympics.
I like the dolphins at the beginning the best. So creative!
Well these gardens are one thing that no one would want to miss while there, Betshopboy
The dolphins are my favorite above all, Uptake
The dolphins are my favorite too..
Nice to see you Dunn
Works of art… how many people should be working on these topiaries to create such giant and beautiful compositions. Thank you for blogging, there are things collected on your page, that i have never seen anywhere or heard of… thanks for your hard work.
Well I wouldn’t be counted among any of those who have, Polina. I find it difficult to take time to even do my weeding
This is nice, except it’s all just misinformation.
This garden was at the Century Park in SHANGHAI, in 2006. It was part of a cultural mosiac project, done by Chinese and other international artists. So much misinformation…
For some additional photos, see here:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/554512114qrNazS
Thanks so much for your help, Yassarian. All of my searches led me to the same information which I published, as sent to me as it was described here for the Beijing Olympic Topiary Gardens.
There are a number of images which do appear in that lengthy photostream you provided a link for which appear in the title as Shanghai International Mosaiculture — namely, the dolphins, musicians, oriental women with the umbrella, teacup, butterfly, and 2 architectural images which includes #17 and #27 down from the top.
The musicians are on a platform from that photostream which don’t show any water around them. Perhaps it was under construction at the time of those photos?
Out of the approximate 120 images there, and 40 here, those are the ones that may very well be just as you say. If I missed any, forgive me, there were quite a few images to go through.
Doing a search for the 2006 Shanghai International Mosaiculture, the same images appear to match as well for the dolphins, teapot, and #17 and #18 down from the top.
But the images posted have also been found listed as Beijing Olympic Gardens with searches. Even the YouTube video is titled as such. And numerous news sites publish the very same images I mentioned above as the Beijing Olympic Gardens. This could be rather difficult to determine which is accurate, or if they’re possibly even reproductions of works from the Shanghai exhibit.
If anyone has been to the new gardens in Beijing, I would love to hear about it.
omg those gardens are super cool i wish i could go and see them close up and i like the olyimpics there cool!
shayna
Well, there’s no doubt the Chinese people are artful as evidenced by the visually stunning topiaries and it’s nice to get all excited about their accomplishments. Still it’s a shame this same creativity and potential benefit to the world by these wonderful people is stifled by a government hell-bent on putting on a great show for the world while locking out its citizens from contact with the rest of us to share said creativity by refusing them access to the internet. Limiting/protecting children is one thing…but an entire population? The People in China: 1, the Chinese Gov’t: 0
It really is a crying shame how they’ve banned their own people from the outside world on the net, Ken
China is really well prepare to host this 2008 event of the year. I just can’t wait to see the opening ceremony tomorrow. Have seen some pictures of their rehearsal and that was already amazing.
The gardens are beautiful… it’s amazing that a country that can produce so much beauty can also produce so much pollution… It’s a dichotomy. As well, watching the Opening Ceremonies, there was a section of tai chi martial artists. Again, it was stressed man with nature. Just weird how far a country can veer from it’s path. That being said, it was nice to see that children were heavily represented in the ceremonies. Maybe they will keep the green movement alive.
Well for anyone that was able to watch the opening ceremonies, it was a breathtaking sight to behold. I was only able to watch highlights, but it would have been amazing to be there live to see the performances. Here’s hoping that they will sustain their ‘green’ efforts in the future.
Where are the gardens located in relation to the olympic stadiums? We spent the entire day looking for them and no one even knew what we were talking about! Does this garden actually exist?!
Shivani, this is what my research found, but there was not very much available at that:
“The exhibit will be displayed at the Science and Technology Park near the Olympic Village, Beijing, China from July 8th to September 8th 2008.”
I hope that you are able to find them to view the sculptures, it would be a shame to miss. There is a map at the top of this article. Clicking on the link for BCGI towards the bottom will bring you to their website.
these are century park shanghai from 2007 and 2006.
I have the same photos and pictures of them being constructed
[...] Shear genius by the underpaid workers over at the 2008 Olympic gardens. ‘Shear’… Geddit? Like ’shears’… Used on hedges… [...]
Once again olympic has come to the asia.China, as the trade mark of the Asia, has well prepared for the this big event and became one of the the great nations.Opening ceramony wsa unbelievably.They have justified their position as the master of fireworks.
This is absolutely amazing.Fireworks and the drill wre stunning.It was hard to believe that it was done by human beigns.GOOD LUCK CHINA
above photographes are unbelievable. It is like a hevan on the earth.
The displays are truly fantasic and some hard work to achieve this standard
[...] Speaking of hard to grow … Hat tip to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for pointing out this video of the Beijing Olympic Gardens. Better quality stills here. [...]
The exhibition IS NOT EXISTED AT ALL within the Science and Technology Park near the Olympic Village in Beijing. My footprint covered every coner of the Science and Technology Park. There is only a botanic exhibition. Totally mislead by the wrong information…
Indeed the Gardens are stunning leaving your mind astonished by the endlessness of creativity of human being. The pond with dolphins are most beautiful for the harmony between man created art and nature.
Remarkable! The gardens make you wonder at the artistry and creativity of the hands who labored to make them look the way they do.
wow I amaze very much in those pictures..
nice post..
wonderful garden…I can’t believe on it but its true..
very nice post..
What wonderful garden… I can’t believe it on, but there is all true…
these are century park shanghai from 2007 and 2006.
Wow! what a incredible garden! it is amazing and the nature sculptures are just beautiful! i didn’t know they created this enormous garden for the Olympic Games, but if they didn’t, like some people said, though i’m very surprised! it is a wonderful and magic little world in Earth; hope much more cities would care about giving a good impression like this one, but not only for the Olympic Games.
these are so beautiful!!
nice picture, these are so beautiful
mengembalikan jati diri bangsa´s last blog ..Hello world!
That’s incredible. Topiary art taken to the next level.
Gavin´s last blog ..Martha Stewart’s Vertical Garden