On the morning of April 29, the countdown one-year-to-go launch ceremony for "Welcome the World Horticultural Expo, Explore Tangshan" — the 2016 Tangshan World Horticultural Expo — was grandly held at Zitian'e Manor International Hotel in Nanhu Caofeidian.
At the opening ceremony, Comrade Cao Zhengping, Deputy Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Committee, and Comrade Gao Guoming, Discipline Inspection Commissioner of the Hebei Provincial Tourism Bureau, delivered speeches respectively. Yuan Limin, Director of the Changping District Tourism Commission in Beijing, Bian Shineng, Director of the Dongli District Tourism Bureau in Tianjin, and Xing Jinglin, Director of the Tangshan Municipal Tourism Bureau, exchanged tourism gift packages among the three regions. Comrade Cao Zhengping, Deputy Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Committee, Comrade Gao Guoming, Discipline Inspection Group Leader of the Hebei Provincial Tourism Bureau, Comrade Cao Jinhua, Vice Chairman of the Municipal People's Congress, Comrade Li Guozhong, Vice Mayor of the Municipal Government, and Comrade Su Chunsheng, Vice Chairman of the Municipal CPPCC, jointly touched the launch ball, marking the official start of the one-year countdown to the 2016 Tangshan World Horticultural Expo.
With the launch of the one-year-to-go countdown ceremony for the 2016 Tangshan World Horticultural Expo, the "Enjoy Changping Hot Springs, Visit Dongli Amusement Parks, Admire Tangshan Scenery" series of events also kicked off in Tangshan. The strong collaboration among the tourism industries of the three regions will offer residents more travel route options and travel benefits. In the afternoon, tourism management departments and enterprises from Changping, Dongli, and Tangshan held enthusiastic discussions on further strengthening cooperation, facilitating mutual tourist flows, and promoting the in-depth implementation of the coordinated development strategy for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. They also visited some of the city’s key scenic spots.
On April 29, 2016, the Tangshan World Horticultural Expo will grandly open in Nanhu. This expo will last for six months, covering a total area of 540 hectares. It is mainly divided into eight zones: the Domestic Garden, the International Garden, the Specialized Garden, the Designers’ Garden, the Ecological Science Education Garden, the Low-Carbon Living Garden, the Children’s Expo Garden, and the Future Low-Carbon Garden. It is the first international horticultural event ever held in a coal subsidence area—an unprecedented global gathering that will surely become a platform for promoting exchanges and cooperation between Tangshan and other parts of China and the world, as well as a joyous festival shared by the people of Tangshan and friends from all over.
This event is hosted by the Tangshan Municipal People’s Government and organized by the Tangshan Municipal Tourism Bureau and the Executive Office of the Tangshan World Horticultural Expo. Relevant leaders from the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal People’s Congress, the Municipal Government, the Municipal CPPCC, and the Hebei Provincial Tourism Bureau attended the launch ceremony. Leaders from the Beijing Changping District Tourism Commission, the Tianjin Dongli District Tourism Bureau, tourism bureaus of various cities and prefectures within the province, county (city) and district tourism bureaus, as well as representatives from major travel agencies and scenic spots in Changping, Dongli, and Tangshan, and members of the media—totaling over 200 people—were present.