The Beijing Botanical Garden at the foot of the Xishan Mountains in Beijing has attracted more and more attention and favor from the people of the city for many years due to its unique tourism resource advantages. Moreover, among the increasing number of tourists every year, tourists from other regions and overseas have also begun to make up a considerable proportion. I remember on April 21, 2005, 15 years ago today, during the 17th Beijing Peach Blossom Festival and World Famous Flower Exhibition held by the Botanical Garden, the reporter visited here. The brilliant and colorful spring scenery of the Beijing Botanical Garden left a deep impression on the reporter.

Spring Brilliant Botanical Garden (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

As soon as I arrived at the south gate of Beijing Botanical Garden, I saw the visiting vehicles blocking the entrance completely. Tourists rushed towards the park like a tide, and in addition to numerous individual visitors, there were also some neatly arranged primary and secondary school students queuing up to go. After the reporter followed the crowd into the garden, a colorful garden world suddenly appeared in front of people. Especially on both sides of the park's roads, the colorful tulips in full bloom are particularly brilliant and eye-catching.

South Gate of Beijing Botanical Garden (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

More than a decade ago, journalists came here, but the scene they see now is vastly different from the memories of that time. At that time, Zhao Shiwei, the then deputy director of the Beijing Botanical Garden, introduced to reporters, "The Beijing Botanical Garden was established in 1956 and has gone through nearly fifty years of development. However, the main development has actually taken place in the past decade or so. The total planned area of the Beijing Botanical Garden now reaches 400 hectares, including 200 hectares of tourist areas and 200 hectares of natural protection experimental areas. It is a large-scale comprehensive botanical garden that mainly collects, displays, and preserves plant resources in North China, Northeast China, and Northwest China, while also taking into account tropical and subtropical plants. It mainly consists of plant exhibition areas, scenic spots and historical sites tourist areas, and the Cherry Valley natural protection experimental area."

Entering the Botanical Garden (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Zhao Shiwei also told reporters, "In recent years, the number of tourists visiting the botanical garden to admire flowers has been increasing day by day, reaching over 2.5 million last year. Relatively speaking, the spring and autumn seasons have the highest number of tourists. Especially during the warm spring season, the proportion of tourists can account for about 50% of the whole year."

One of the Tulip Flowers (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

"At the same time, autumn chrysanthemums and red leaves are another peak season that attracts tourists to come and admire the botanical garden. The tropical plant exhibition greenhouse in the garden is as warm as spring all year round, gathering various families of plants from around the world, some even rare and rare varieties. Even during the 'Spring Festival' golden week, it can trigger a small tourism peak."

Tulip II (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The reporter learned during the interview that the open area of the botanical garden used to be very small, but in recent years, the development of the botanical garden has made tremendous changes. The open area alone has reached 3000 acres. Landscapes such as Wofo Temple, Cherry Gully, Cao Xueqin Memorial Hall, and Liang Qichao's Tomb have all been integrated into the open area of the botanical garden. At the same time, 11 garden gardens have been built in the park, including Peony Garden, Bonsai Garden, Begonia Garden, Rose Garden, Bitao Garden, Dingxiang Garden, Mulan Garden, Peony Garden, Plum Garden, and Bamboo Garden. Tourists can come and admire different flowers in each season.

Red Peach Blossom (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The reporter wandered through the Beijing Botanical Garden and saw more than 60 varieties of peach blossoms, including red, pink, and white Yunlong peach, spotted peach, chrysanthemum peach, and mountain peach, blooming in the bustling Bitaoyuan scenic area. These colorful and diverse peach blossoms bloomed together. Since 1989, the Beijing Botanical Garden has held the Peach Blossom Festival every April.

White Peach Blossom (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

There are nearly 10000 peach blossoms in the entire park, forming peach blossom forests, peach blossom slopes, and peach blossom paths. More than 20 types of spring and peach blossoms, including Yingchun, Forsythia, Ulm Leaf Plum, Begonia, and Cherry Blossom, bloom together, creating a magnificent landscape with pine and green willows. Especially the fragrant white flower mountain green peach, which was the first artificially hybrid new variety completed by the Beijing Botanical Garden, fills the gap between the flowering period of the peach and the pink flower mountain green peach.

Pink Flower Mountain and Peach (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

On both sides of the corridor leading to some scenic spots, green lawns undulate according to the terrain, resembling large carpets, forming another pleasing natural landscape in the botanical garden. It is understood that the botanical garden has currently covered 900000 square meters of lawn. Entering the depths of the botanical garden, what constantly catches people's eyes is a scene full of spring, with lush trees, gorgeous flowers, and lush green grass. The mountains and waters are beautiful, and the clear mountains reflect the clear water, creating a beautiful natural scenery.

A corner of the botanical garden (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

Without water, there is no scenery. Although the former Beijing Botanical Garden was composed of beautiful flowers and trees, it lacked water features, and now the botanical garden is not as beautiful as before. It is understood that the Beijing Botanical Garden, built in 2002, has a lake landscape with a water area of about 10 hectares and a water storage capacity of over 100000 cubic meters. Standing on the Xianglu Peak in Xishan, one can clearly see the scenery of three layers of clear water.

Green mountains and clear waters (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Looking at the lake, the water is clear and bottomless, surrounded by lush green grass and clusters of flowers, with countless aquatic plant postures; At the junction of the three pools of clear water, the designers fully utilize the original terrain characteristics to arrange the water system, and cleverly use natural methods such as stacked dams, streams, and shallow pools to connect the three lakes into one. Make the lake surface winding and natural, changing the scenery with each step.

The murmuring stream (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

On the basis of the original plant configuration around the lake area, a large number of new trees, shrubs, vines, and various flowers have been planted, while adding aquatic and wet plants. The rich plant configuration and unique landscape art make the built lake area rich in layers and colorful.

A view by the lake (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

On this basis, in 2003, the Beijing Botanical Garden carried out the second phase of the Beijing Botanical Garden Water System Project in order to restore the original scenery of the Cherry Gully Natural Scenic Area, creating a rare scene of eight lakes competing for beauty and flowing water among the green mountains and trees. Especially in the cherry valley, a famous scenic spot in western Beijing that has been cut off for many years, the beautiful scene of flowing water and a hundred birds chirping can be described as a fairyland on earth, forming a beautiful water landscape of lakes, ponds, ponds, waterfalls, cascading water, streams and other dynamic and static combinations, varying sizes, and rich spatial changes. Here, there are waterfalls, flowing springs, towering ancient trees, flowing streams, winding boardwalks, and colorful flowers and trees competing for beauty, allowing tourists to truly appreciate the endless charm of spring.

Quiet Cherry Gully (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The Beijing Botanical Garden Science Popularization Museum is a youth science popularization education base in Beijing. Built in 1996 and opened to the public in 1998. The museum fully utilizes various modern technologies to showcase basic knowledge of plant morphology, classification, functions, and biodiversity conservation to visitors. Intended to enable everyone to understand some basic knowledge of plants, the living environment of plants, and the common sense of biodiversity conservation after visiting, thereby arousing everyone's awareness of protecting plants and the environment. And often invite experts to give special reports to citizens, promoting plant knowledge in various forms.

Science Popularization Hall (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The tropical exhibition greenhouse of Beijing Botanical Garden has a wide range of plant species and is renowned both domestically and internationally. Although there were many plants in the original greenhouse, the area was not very large. After investing 260 million yuan in renovation, the tropical greenhouse has now become one of the top ten buildings in Beijing in the 1990s, with a total construction area of 17000 square meters and a total land area of 5.5 hectares. The architectural design of the tropical exhibition greenhouse was undertaken by the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design and Research, with the concept of "memories of green leaves on roots" as the design theme. With unique craftsmanship, a tilted glass ceiling intertwined with "roots and stems" was designed, as if a green leaf was falling at the foot of the West Mountain. Comrade Jiang Zemin personally wrote the three shining golden characters "Wanshengyuan" for the tropical greenhouse.

Exhibition Greenhouse (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The tropical exhibition greenhouse mainly displays plants and their landscapes from tropical and subtropical regions, providing a base for biodiversity conservation, science education, scientific research, and viewing. Divided into four main exhibition areas: tropical rainforest landscape, seasonal garden landscape, desert plant landscape, orchid pineapple and carnivorous plant exhibition room. We have collected and displayed over 4100 plant species, including over 60000 varieties. It is an important science popularization and education base for people to understand plants, feel nature, and learn plant knowledge, as well as an important place for plant resource protection and scientific research.

A corner of a tropical greenhouse (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

The tropical rainforest exhibition room covers an area of over 1000 square meters, showcasing unique phenomena of tropical rainforests such as single tree formation, aerial gardens, multi-layered structures, vine entanglement, plate roots, drip leaf tips, strangulation, flowering of old stems, fruiting of old stems, and large leaf ground cover plants. Entering the tropical rainforest exhibition room, you can feel the rich variety of plants here, with high and low levels of contrast and density.

The Largest Wu Lunzhu (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Here, numerous tall and novel plant landscapes are displayed in front of tourists. People can see the largest hanging plant in the greenhouse, a nearly 9-meter-high yellow kudzu banyan tree is hanging a 16-meter-high Iraqi jujube tree. The yellow kudzu banyan tightly wraps around the Iraqi jujube tree with its developed aerial roots, competing for sunlight, water, and nutrients, seriously affecting the normal growth of the Iraqi jujube tree. Perhaps one day, the Iraqi jujube tree will die and rot due to the hanging of the yellow kudzu banyan tree. At that time, people will be able to see a yellow kudzu banyan tree that looks like a pig cage and grows independently. Let everyone feel the cruel competition of plants in nature for survival.

Phalaenopsis (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

The magical and mysterious fruit is a small shrub of the Lamiaceae family, which bears fruit continuously throughout the year. It is native to West Africa and the Congo region. Its biggest feature is that after consuming the mysterious fruit, eating other extremely sour and bitter foods such as lemon will make the taste sweet and delicious. In addition, here you can also appreciate Bodhi trees, carefree flowers, and palm leaves that are closely related to Buddhist culture.

Hot Magenta (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The tropical desert plant exhibition room located on the top floor, also known as the cactus and succulent plant room, covers an area of 1200 square meters, planting and showcasing over 1000 species (including varieties) of cacti and succulent plants, mainly originating from arid and semi-arid regions of tropical and subtropical regions.

Desert Plant Exhibition Hall (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

This type of plant has strong drought resistance, among which cactus plants are native to the Americas, while succulent plants can be found in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. This exhibition room is extremely hot, as if in a desert area with high temperatures and little rain. After staying for a while, the reporter was already sweating profusely, and the sweat had soaked his heart.

Giant Cactus (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

This exhibition room is divided into multiple pulp plant area, Euphorbiaceae plant area, Huwei orchid area, pillar area, strong thorn area, variety area, pineapple area, aloe vera area, agave area, cloud area, and so on. The strange plants growing in the endless yellow sand are the main characteristics of the plants in this exhibition room. The 80 centimeter diameter golden amber, the 5.5 meter tall giant pillar, and the unique scarecrow all demonstrate the novelty of the plants in this exhibition room.

Cactus Plants (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Desert roses and Epiphyllum are both plants in this exhibition room. The agave, which only blooms once in its lifetime, is also on display in this exhibition room. Tequila has the longest flower bud in the world, but it can only bloom once in its lifetime. After blooming, the plant will die. The unique single tree, also known as the Milk Tree in English, belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family and the Euphorbia genus, which is a succulent plant. It is native to the tropical arid regions of Southeast Africa and eastern India. A fleshy tree with a unique shape and no thorns or leaves, it is called a "bachelor tree" by people. The white milk inside its stem is toxic, but it can be used to produce petroleum. Although it has no leaves, it can still rely on green branches for photosynthesis. In addition, there are also a large number of novel plants planted here, such as the cactus family, the Euphorbiaceae family, and the Sedum family.

Lush arrow bamboo (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

The exhibition room for orchids, pineapples, and carnivorous plants covers an area of 500 square meters. Here, through artificial landscapes such as small bridges, flowing water, and rare flowers, a magnificent and mysterious tropical garden scene is presented to people. This exhibition room mainly showcases tropical epiphytic plants represented by orchids and pineapples, while also featuring interesting carnivorous plants and other plants such as ferns for cultivation. The display includes various orchid plants such as Catalan, Phalaenopsis, Huilan, Dendrobium, and Oncidium, as well as various pineapple plants such as Fruit Vine Pineapple, Beautiful Ear Pineapple, Shy Pineapple, and Light Calyx Lotus Pineapple. Moreover, the most noteworthy ones here are the diverse carnivorous plants. Several unique plants that feed on insects, such as pitcher plants, flytrap plants, and bottle plants, will showcase the wonders of nature to everyone.

Pineapple Flower (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The Four Seasons Garden exhibition room is located in the center of the exhibition, with a 3500 square meter exhibition room divided into two parts: the central garden and the palm plant area. The central garden is centered around a giant fountain, surrounded by tall ornamental trees and planted with various seasonal flowers. The decoration content is constantly updated, showcasing the beauty of seasonal flowers with rich colors. Visitors enter it as if strolling in the ocean of flowers. The palm plant area showcases palm plants with diverse postures and rich tropical scenery.

Paradise Bird (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Banyan trees with tree trunks resembling flower baskets, delicate flamingos, poinsettia, and longevity flowers, as well as unique ground flowing golden lotus and precious lotus lanterns, can all be enjoyed here. The world's rare plant, Sea Coconut, displayed here is a national treasure of the Republic of Seychelles. It is hailed as a magical fruit, and its body shape resembling that of a young girl showcases the incredible craftsmanship of nature.

Four Seasons Garden (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Various ingenious garden in garden scenic spots are not only an important part of the Beijing Botanical Garden, but also a good place for tourists to admire various flowers. For example, the largest rose garden in China has planted over 100000 roses and over a thousand varieties. A newly built colorful music fountain in 2003 is located at the center of a circular rose garden. At the scene, the reporter saw more than 100 water column fountains gushing with the ups and downs of the music melody, and children were jumping and reveling in the water flow and music. This has become a joyful world for children, who are fully showcasing their childlike vitality in the bright spring botanical garden.

Carnival in the Music Fountain (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The Peony Garden was built in the early 1980s, covering an area of 4.7 hectares, and is the largest specialized peony garden in the north. Planting over 8500 peonies and over 580 varieties. "Wei Zi", "Yao Huang", "Dou Lv", "Da Hu Hong", "Li Hua Xue", "Wu Long Lie Mo Chi", etc. During the flowering season, red, white, blue, green, purple, and yellow colors are brilliant; Various forms, charming and charming. The terrain in the park is undulating, with beautiful trees planted. The "Qunfang Pavilion" and "Yuanyang Pavilion" cover it, while the "Peony Fairy" sculpture reclines in the flower bushes. There are also large-scale murals with themes such as "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" and "Ge Zhan", adding charm to tourists.

Bonsai Garden Scenic Area (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

The dignified and elegant white magnolias and light purple magnolias in the Mulan Garden attract tourists to stop and admire. The Haitang Xunzi Garden has planted more than ten varieties of beautiful and colorful Haitang, including "diamonds", "gemstones", and "snowballs". There are over 200 excellent varieties of Haitang, including more than ten varieties from the United States and other countries, competing with each other; Big mountain cherry blossoms, drooping branch cherry blossoms, and others convey Japanese customs; There are also spring flowers such as iris and Bauhinia, which have a refreshing aroma and bright colors, showcasing their unique charm. In addition, several other parks within the park also have their own unique features, attracting a large number of tourists every year.

The Little Flower on the Roadside (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Beijing Botanical Garden not only has rich natural landscapes, but also a large number of cultural landscapes. For example, the millennium old Buddhist temple that has been enclosed in the scenic area of the park. The Wofo Temple was built during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty and underwent repairs throughout the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The temple is officially named "Shifang Pujue Temple" and is commonly known as "Sleeping Buddha Temple" because it houses a bronze statue of Shakyamuni Nirvana cast in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty's Zhizhi era (1321).

Crouching Buddha statue (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

The reclining Buddha is 5.3 meters long, 1.4 meters high on its side, and weighs 54 tons. It is the world's largest solid copper reclining Buddha and a treasure of Chinese culture. The environment in the temple is tranquil, surrounded by ancient cypresses and ginkgo trees. In front of the Heavenly King Hall, there is an ancient waxberry tree that has been around for over 1300 years, making it a famous flower viewing destination in Beijing's winter and early spring.

Cao Xueqin Memorial Hall (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

Due to the large area of the botanical garden scenic area and time constraints, the reporter did not go to places such as Wofo Temple and Cherry Valley Garden. However, in order to explore the birth of the masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber", the reporter went to the Cao Xueqin Memorial Hall located in Huangye Village within the park. The memorial hall was founded in 1983 and expanded in 1996, covering an area of 1.8 hectares. This courtyard, consisting of several rural houses, is located in the botanical garden of Nuo Da, with a touch of a utopia.

Photo taken at the Memorial Hall (Photographer: Wang Jue)

Data records: According to the research of the Redology scholars, the great writer Cao Xueqin lived and wrote in the area of the Wafo Temple in Xiangshan in his later years. In order to commemorate this great literary figure, based on the artistic conception described in the poems and writings of Cao Xueqin's friends Dun Cheng and Zhang Yiquan, in the southwest area of Beijing Botanical Garden, the living environment of Cao Xueqin's later years - Huangye Village is artistically reproduced.

A corner of the memorial hall (photographed by Feng Ganyong)

The village has opened up vegetable gardens and medicine gardens, set up arrow fields, ancient mounds, and wine shops. There are scenic spots such as "River Wall Smoke Willow", "Xue Luo Men Lane", "Bamboo Hedge Maosi", and "Chai Chang Evening Smoke" in the village. In addition, cultural landscapes such as the tomb of Liang Qichao and the December 9th Memorial Pavilion deep in the Cherry Gully in the park are also of great visiting value.

Memorial Courtyard (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

During the Beijing Peach Blossom Festival and World Famous Flower Exhibition, over time, various beautiful flowers, mainly tulips, have bloomed in the bulbous flower exhibition area. More than 150 varieties of tulips, hyacinths, Fritillaria, scallions, and nearly one million other bulbs planted in the exhibition area will be opened one after another, transforming the bulb display area into a sea of flowers. Especially in this exhibition, a large number of new and excellent foreign varieties were introduced, such as ice cream tulips, scallions, and nearly 10 varieties of Fritillaria, which are rare flower varieties in China. In addition to a large number of beautiful bulbous flowers, this exhibition also planted a large number of fragrant plants, allowing tourists to smell the unique fragrance of fragrant plants far from the flower exhibition area.

Flowers Blooming (Photographer: Feng Ganyong)

As the wind harvesting was coming to an end, Deputy Principal Zhao Shiwei finally told reporters, "People who have lived in cities with environmental pollution such as noise and exhaust gas for a long time will feel incredibly fresh and happy when they come here. They can fully relax their tense bodies and minds. While enjoying flowers and scenery, they can also receive education on popular science knowledge. Especially for young parents with children, it is very beneficial. We hope to make Beijing Botanical Garden a famous tourist destination that integrates scientific popularization, sightseeing, scientific research, and plant resource protection and development. We warmly welcome tourists from home and abroad to visit Beijing Botanical Garden." For many years, we have not visited Beijing Botanical Garden again, but the reporter believes that if we continue. Visiting the Beijing Botanical Garden must be a more visually pleasing sight with a cluster of flowers. (Image and text: Feng Ganyong)