Nestled below brown-coloured hills in a western suburb of Beijing is one of the best projects to be completed during last year's construction frenzy to mark the 50th anniversary of communist China. A giant greenhouse, with 17,000 square metres of space covered by glass and grey steel tubes, it contains 60,000 plants and flowers, a feast of colours in the bleak and leafless northern winter - the Kew Gardens of China.
The greenhouse opened to the public on January 1 and is attracting 1,000 visitors a day, with triple that number during the week-long Lunar New Year holiday that began last Saturday. 'We Beijing people have never seen such trees,' said businessman Wang Jianmin as he pulled off layers of heavy clothing in the warm and humid rainforest section where water sprayed over him.
He marvelled at a tree named Bei Ye Zong (shell leaf palm) or 'Buddhist tree', whose leaves have been used to write Buddhist scriptures. In Xishuangbanna in southwest China, close to the border with Burma, is a collection of such 5,000 leaves with sacred writings. Most of the plants and trees in this section were brought by rail or road from Yunnan, Guangxi and Hainan, the far corners of south and southwest China. It took two months to bring one, a plank buttress tree, by road from Yunnan, with frequent stops to provide water and nutrients.
In the desert section, the 1,000 cacti and succulent plants come from the United States and Africa, including a cactus from Arizona that can live for 200 years and grow 15 metres high. The richest colours are shown by the orchids and carnivorous plants, grown locally and from overseas.
'It took 18 months and 240 million yuan [HK$212 million] to build,' said Ma Jinlai, a greenhouse official. 'The main expense was the imported glass panels, double-glazed and each different. They cost 10,000 yuan each. Transporting the exhibits here was also a substantial cost. It is the largest greenhouse in Asia, with the temperature inside the different rooms controlled by computer,' he said. 'All the funds came from the city government. This is not a money-making project. It is to give everyone a chance to see the plants, to spread knowledge and provide a place for research. We have exchanges with gardens in Canada, the United States, Russia and elsewhere.' The greenhouse was designed by Zhang Yu of the Beijing Institute of Architecture and Design, with the layout of the gardens done by Chinese experts after visits to such places as Kew Gardens in southwest London. Mr Wang said the greatest pleasure for Beijing people was the richness of colours and new plants.
'During the long winter, Beijing is dry and colourless. The landscape is grey and the trees are without leaves. Here, for an hour or two, we can leave the bleak winter.' It is designed for ordinary people, unlike some of the projects completed ahead of the 50th anniversary, like the millennium altar where President Jiang Zemin welcomed the new century, which had only a political purpose.