New | Hebei province breaks world record for biggest flower arch

The northeastern province of Hebei now holds the world record for creating the largest flower arch, decorated mostly with tulips and other blossoms.

The structure, created in Tangshan city (260 kilometres by rail from Beijing) out of 30,000 flowers, measures 7.16 metres tall and 10.65 metres wide, while its pillars are 1.41 metres thick.

The arch was officially added to the Guinness World Records after it was verified by Lisa Hoffman, a Canadian adjudicator for the world records compiler.

Tulips make up the bulk of the structure, but there are also carnations, roses, gerbera, lilies and other flowers. The top of the arch spells out the characters for “Year’s Gate”.

It took more than 100 workers three days, two nights and 65 boxes of fertiliser to build the arch.

Hoffman said building such a large structure out of flowers was difficult because of the material’s short lifespan. She said it had to be completed within a short period of time, and handling flowers required great skill.