From May to June 2018, the 3rd OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival is back as scheduled. Under the phoenix flowers, people gather with joy brought by blooming flowers, making their way to Overseas Chinese Town for this rendezvous with nature.
Winning works of the 2016 Phoenix Flower Photography Competition by Miao HuaOCT Phoenix Flower Carnival
Diverse Activities Attract Public to “Be Together with Nature”
This year’s OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival features a wide range of activities including public art, community participation, lectures, performances, study tours, and markets. A series of engaging programs such as “Play me, I'm yours – Nature Sounds,” “Nature Concert,” “Environmental Theater,” “One Ton Knowledge Bookstore,” the OCT Phoenix Flower Photography Competition, “Seed Study Tour,” “Nature Market,” “Nature Art,” and “Pecha Kucha Night” have been curated. These initiatives aim to blend urban dwellers with nature, prompt the public to rethink the multiple meanings of “nature,” and encourage them to express their attitudes toward the natural world.
“Play me, I'm yours" will commence on May 25, 2018, at Shenzhen’s Overseas Chinese Town Ecological Square, where it will “Make Nature Sound.” This global urban public piano initiative, launched by internationally renowned public artist Luke Jerram, is built on the simple concept of “pianos for everyone to play.” Over ten years, it has placed 1,850 pianos in 55 cities across the globe, attracting over 10 million people to share the moving charm of music. Making its first appearance at the OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival, “Play me, I'm yours” will launch a global recruitment drive for unused pianos, transforming artists, and piano performers. It aims to unite creativity and music, allowing reborn pianos to make natural sounds throughout the city. After the project concludes, the pianos will be auctioned off to the public, spreading the joy of music even further.
“Nature Concert" will be held on June 9–10, 2018, at the Photosynthesis Dome in Shenzhen’s Overseas Chinese Town. This concert will feature a lineup of nature-inspired artists. These sound explorers, drawing inspiration from nature, will engage in a dialogue about the concept, aesthetics, and value of nature music. They will lead audiences on a journey to follow the footsteps of sound explorers and listen to the voices of nature.
“Environmental Theater" invites well-known artists and art groups. Starting June 2, they will engage in one week of site-specific creation in response to Shenzhen’s local environment, culminating in two remarkable environmental theater performances. Using the most primal form of performance, these shows will enliven public life outdoors and in squares through open-air formats. The program aims to help people express, release, and heal themselves through theater or music, and to open up communication with others, society, and nature.
“One Ton Knowledge Bookstore" invites 100 intellectuals, writers, directors, and artists active in China’s cultural sectors to each recommend 10 books along with a personal note—amounting to roughly one ton of books. In the “One Ton Knowledge Bookstore,” all books are “sold by weight in sets of five,” with only the spines of the top and bottom books visible in each set. Organizers have created this unique setup to respond to today’s growing echo chamber effect.
OCT Phoenix Flower Photography CompetitionOriginating from the Overseas Chinese Town community in Shenzhen, this grassroots, non-professional photography competition encourages authenticity. Now in its 8th year, it has become an annual city-level photography event. The competition calls on citizens to capture beautiful moments of nature and touching instances of emotional connection through imagery. The photography competition kicked off on May 14.
“Seed Study Tour" is a nature-themed urban learning journey spanning seven days and divided into three themes. It takes participants on a journey of learning and observation within familiar environments but with fresh perspectives. It helps attendees understand urban development, explore the definition of nature, and learn how to coexist with it. Organizers hope the program will deepen understanding of the relationship between cities and nature. Participants, like seeds, quickly forge connections between urban life and the natural world. The tour also encourages individuals to step outside their industries and engage with various themes that explore the bond between city and nature.
“Nature Market" gathers creative individuals from diverse fields, integrating into everyday urban life. With a focus on natural creativity and handcrafted objects full of warmth, the market connects people through engaging and playful formats. From plants to handmade goods, accessories, and independent artworks, the Nature Market uses “creativity/nature” as its foundation, infusing every item with natural elements. Each material choice and design detail reflects the creator’s lifestyle attitude and aesthetic values.
“Nature Art" is a natural art installation competition organized as part of the “Nature Art Season” hosted by the Overseas Chinese Town Wetland Nature School. Participants use discarded natural materials such as stones, twigs, leaves, reeds, feathers, fruits, bamboo poles, and shells to create art installations, contributing to the zero-waste movement. The final works will be displayed along the Zero Road in the Overseas Chinese Town Wetland Park, promoting the environmental message of zero waste. The exhibit encourages more people to connect with nature in diverse ways and participate in environmental protection.
“Pecha Kucha night” is a global non-profit creative forum initiated by Klein Dytham Architects (KDA), a design firm based in Tokyo, Japan, and has been held in over 1,000 cities worldwide. At this year’s Pecha Kucha Night during the Phoenix Flower Carnival, multiple artists will share their creative works. Diverse thoughts will meet intriguing creativity, sparking inspiration naturally, and the sharing of knowledge can be both trendy and fun.
In addition to the rich series of activities mentioned above, this year’s carnival also features a uniquely designed Photosynthesis Dome. This massive inflatable structure is located on the green space next to the Shenzhen OCT Sports & Culture Center. It adopts a co-connected, shared experience model, aiming to create a new type of urban space that is more interactive, participatory, and exploratory. By facilitating interactions between space and nature, it guides people away from everyday reality into an extraordinary sensory experience. Inside the transparent sphere, participants engage in photosynthesis-like activities—drawing energy from sunlight, the nourishment of art, and human interaction to explore, observe, and discover nature’s essence. Multiple activities of this year’s OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival will take place within the Photosynthesis Dome.
People, nature, and the city “naturally together”
In 2016, the first OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival kicked off in Shenzhen OCT with the theme “Let Life Become a Festival.” Its goal was to create a festival full of life and art for residents, expressing people’s eternal pursuit of a better life. In 2017, aligned with the “Shenzhen Plant Year,” the second OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival partnered strategically with the 19th IBC International Botanical Congress, the Shenzhen Botanical Society, the OCT National Wetland Park, and the Shenzhen Huafu Ecological & Environmental Protection Foundation. Centered around the theme “This Is So Natural,” it led urban dwellers to observe life from new perspectives through varied experiences, while also fostering a naturally growing, quality community. To date, the themes and content of all three OCT Phoenix Flower Carnivals have been closely related to people, nature, and urban development. The organizer, OCT Group, has clearly demonstrated its commitment to reflecting on and optimizing urban development, ecological conservation, and public spaces through these public events.
By observing broadly and selecting wisely, and accumulating steadily before making bold moves, the OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival is not a sudden flash of inspiration from OCT staff, but the culmination and elevation of over 30 years of practice. As early as 1985, OCT pioneered the “plan before build” approach in China’s development zone construction. Through over 30 years of dedicated efforts, it transformed a 6-square-kilometer muddy tidal flat along Shenzhen Bay into a comprehensive urban area integrating tourism, ecological landscapes, living amenities, commercial transition zones, and residential spaces. The human-centered approach and priority given to planning reflect the essence of OCT’s over 30-year developmental journey.
In the past decade, OCT has adhered to its brand positioning as a “quality life visionary,” continuously innovating and enriching its brand expression. It has put forward core concepts such as “Quality OCT, Happiness for Millions,” “Creation for Sharing,” and “Creation Ignites a Better Life,” staying attuned to the public. Guided by these values, OCT actively participates in public discourse and social consultation. It also organizes various public relations events and builds omnimedia communication platforms and internet portals to establish a platform for coexisting diverse values. Through equal and open dialogue, OCT engages with stakeholders to achieve mutual benefits aligned with public interests, enhance shared value beliefs, and foster meaningful exchanges. The OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival is a prime example of these value-sharing platforms. After years of careful planning and execution, it has become a distinctive branded IP event of OCT, reaching an audience of over one million. Residents of Shenzhen describe it as “like a dandelion,” spreading the ideas of environmental protection and public art.
Beyond environmental awareness and public art, the OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival also embodies OCT Group’s deeper reflections on the relationships between people, nature, and the city. In recent years, while actively fulfilling social responsibilities, promoting public art projects, advancing cultural creativity, and practicing ecological conservation, OCT has also called on and inspired the public to contemplate ecological development. It has established and actively participated in platforms and spaces for exchange and dialogue, using equal conversations to initiate discussions about people, the city, and nature.
The city is a complex social ecosystem. The relationships among people, nature, and the city continue to evolve throughout the process of urbanization. How people, nature, and the city can coexist harmoniously has increasingly become a focal topic of societal concern. The Pearl River Delta is at the forefront of China’s urbanization, and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is a model within this frontier. In recent years in Shenzhen, keywords such as the city, nature, people, life, and urbanization have frequently emerged. Especially on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, the upcoming rollout of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area plan, and Shenzhen’s bid to become a national forest city, these topics have played a particularly guiding role.
In November 2017, at the “2017 China Best Public Relations Case Competition” hosted by the China International Public Relations Association, the second “OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival” won the Gold Award in the Corporate Brand Communication category and the Honorary Grand Award of the competition. Expert judges at the event commented: “It is not easy for OCT to prioritize social value over branding in terms of social responsibility, and to adopt a people-centered approach in public relations. More importantly, in the field of communication, the OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival pioneered the concept of ‘natural voice’ and the idea of ‘sharing the voice between humans and nature.’ It then built a broad community relationship system through equal dialogue, ultimately exploring sustainable solutions to social issues regarding the ‘relationship between humans and nature’ through communication methods.” This also represents academic recognition of OCT Group and the OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival.
Over the past 30-plus years, OCT, as a “corporate citizen,” has actively engaged in caring for and exploring natural ecology and urban culture. OCT Group has placed social, natural, and cultural responsibilities at the forefront, using ecology to connect with nature, public welfare to give back to society, and heritage preservation to protect national culture. It builds a beautiful life full of humanistic care, green sustainability, and harmonious coexistence. This has ensured that the social responsibility practiced by OCT always carries warmth. It is believed that the third OCT Phoenix Flower Carnival, themed “Naturally Together,” will spread the seeds of natural ecology and culture even further and wider. Amid the multifaceted collisions of art, thought, and creativity, we look forward to seeing even more brilliant sparks lighting up every corner of the city.