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The 2018 Taichung World Flora Expo will commence soft opening in September next year and official opening is slated for November 3. The expo will draw to a conclusion on April 24, 2019, totaling 231 days, and it is an international classification event sanctioned by International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH). In welcoming the flora expo, Taichung City Government has designated this year as flora expo “Social Participation Year”, and the “Flora expo photo album” was launched to invite citizens to build their exclusive 7 gardens; they are encouraged to participate in flora expo related activities and document their flora expo stories through the camera lens.
Deputy Mayor Yi-ying Lin unveiled her 7-page “Flora expo photo album”, with each page representing one of her 7 gardens. The first is “My own garden”; she feels that her happiest moment is when she is preparing breakfast for her children, thus she has placed photos of her cooking in “My own garden”. The second is “Family garden”, featuring her three children. The third is “Friendship garden”, featuring friends she met while promoting the flora expo in Japan.
The fourth is “Work garden”, featuring images of her when she attended the city hall meeting for the first time. The fifth is “Society garden”, featuring images of her engaging in social work. The sixth is “City garden”, featuring Taichung’s exclusive sceneries such as the stunning Liu River and Taichung Park Pavilion. The seventh is “Flora expo garden”, featuring images of her engaging in flora expo preparatory works.
According to Deputy Mayor Lin, the flora expo is an urban transformation movement, thus unlike conventional events that all eventually come to an end, citizens and volunteers are urged to get involved in the flora expo now, thereby turning everyone’s living circles into miniature flora expo exhibition venues. The intention is to encourage people to nurture their exclusive 7 gardens and embrace flora expo in everyday life.
First Lady of Taichung Wan-ju Liao also spoke about the core philosophy of the flora expo. She suggested that there are several gardens inside every person’s mind, each representing oneself, family, friends, work, society, future and the flora expo. Each garden must be nurtured with love and attention. It is hoped that the concept of the 7 gardens of flora expo will spearhead Taichung’s aesthetic movement and endow people with different imaginations.
For example, she suggested that the family garden may feature photos of family gatherings, while the friendship garden can commemorate the patching up of friendship with someone close, because everyone wants to do something beautiful in celebration of the flora expo.
Social Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government Director Jen-der Lue suggested that the flora expo is not only an exposition by also an urban transformation movement, and the First Lady of Taichung City’s 7 gardens philosophy intends to let the citizens discover their passion for the city through “flora expo album”, in turn presenting the best features of the city to the world.
“Flora expo photo album” is divided into 2 stages. Stage one commences immediately and continues until the flora expo soft opening in September next year, this is part of the “Citizen Participation Program”. Stage two starts during the flora expo’s soft opening in September next year and carries on until the end of the flora expo in 2019, this is part of the “Flora Expo Volunteer Program”. It is hoped that each citizen can find their exclusive garden in the “Citizen Participation Program”, in turn falling in love with themselves and Taichung, so that they can eventually become an integral part of the 2018 Taichung flora expo volunteer team within the metropolitan garden of Taichung.
According to the Bureau of Social Affairs, besides magnificent sceneries of flowers at the 2018 Taichung flora expo, another major component are the flora expo volunteers, because they are the greatest facilitators of major exhibitions. Currently, there are 97,829 volunteers in Taichung City, it is hoped that 20,000 of these volunteers will be used for the 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition, thus citizens are encouraged to engage in volunteer service, so that we can sow the seeds of Hope (Happiness, Opportunity, Participation and Enthusiasm) together, in turn demonstrating Taichung City Government’s spirit of volunteer service - HOPE 125.
Starting today, the public can become involved in flora expo related activities and document these activities with their cameras. The images captured can be uploaded to the “flora expo photo album” (http://album.2018floraexpo.tw/) to build their exclusive garden. The photo album will be available for download and printing in October this year. For all flora expo related events, please browse the “2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition” official website.