{"id":131778,"date":"2026-02-23T05:02:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/china-themed-orchid-festival-blooms-at-kew-gardens-in-celebration-of-culture-and-biodiversity\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T05:02:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T05:02:50","slug":"china-themed-orchid-festival-blooms-at-kew-gardens-in-celebration-of-culture-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/china-themed-orchid-festival-blooms-at-kew-gardens-in-celebration-of-culture-and-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"China-themed Orchid Festival blooms at Kew Gardens in celebration of culture and biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIJING, China, Feb 23 \u2014 For people in China, February often means the excitement of Spring Festival, but in Europe, the wet, gloomy skies can make it a miserable time. So it\u2019s \u201ca happy accident\u201d that this is the very time when London\u2019s Kew Gardens holds its annual Orchid Festival, which has a China theme this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set in 130 hectares of West London, the Royal Botanical Gardens have the world\u2019s largest and most diverse plant collection, with a history dating back to 1759 and a deep Chinese connection.<\/p>\n

The gardens feature a Chinese-inspired 10-story pagoda adorned with 80 dragons, as well as stone lion statues.<\/p>\n

Kew\u2019s Millennium Seed Bank project at its Wakehurst site in Sussex has recently worked closely with global partners, including the Kunming Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on cutting-edge conservation projects.<\/p>\n

Until March 8, China\u2019s nature and culture will take center stage in Kew\u2019s Princess of Wales Conservatory, in a stunning show of orchids and plant-inspired displays. The greenhouse has 10 computer-controlled climate zones, each providing ideal conditions for showcasing a wide range of China\u2019s numerous orchid varieties.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe chose China this year because we have a great history with China,\u201d said Mark Godber, Kew\u2019s visitor programs manager. \u201cWe didn\u2019t choose it to be at the same time as Chinese New Year, as the (orchid) festival is always at this time of year, but that\u2019s a happy accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival, which takes nearly a year of planning, features plant sculptures, as well as exhibits about orchids\u2019 medicinal qualities and orchid-inspired artwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cA privilege of being here is meeting experts in horticulture and science, so the festival is always an education, which we try to share with visitors,\u201d Godber added.<\/p>\n

Botanical horticulturist Martin Silnevs said that even as an experienced professional, working with Chinese orchids was a learning experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina\u2019s a vast hot spot for biodiversity, with around 40,000 native plants and 1,700 orchids originally found there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Orchids, together with plum blossoms, bamboo and chrysanthemums \u2014 known collectively as the \u201cFour Gentlemen\u201d of flowers \u2014 are enduring symbols of Chinese culture, and frequently appear in the poems and paintings of scholars and literati.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe festival is always an education, not just about the plants,\u201d said Silnevs. \u201cI now know about symbols of Chinese culture, which are in our display, and in our permanent orchid zone, we have some rare Chinese orchids, which I\u2019ve learned about, and hope visitors will, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cCulture also plays a big role \u2014 the festival\u2019s not just about floristry, but also artists who display their work,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

One of these is Hong Kong-based artist Zheng Bo, whose series of pictures \u201cOrchids Return to the Sea\u201d can be seen amid the plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always think about the skyscrapers in Hong Kong, but I live in a very biodiverse place, as there are so many wild orchids,\u201d the artist said. \u201cOrchids are important in Chinese painting, but when I was young I wasn\u2019t interested in them, I was more into contemporary art. Now that I\u2019m older, I\u2019m reconnecting with premodern Chinese art.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven in a place like Hong Kong, orchids are amazingly resilient, not just beautiful, but super strong,\u201d Zheng said.<\/p>\n

The festival celebrates not only the beauty of China\u2019s orchids, but also their scientific importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrchids hold a special place in Chinese culture, including in medicine,\u201d said Rui Fang, a natural product chemist at Kew.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur scientists have long collaborated with partners in China, working with traditional medicine experts on seed banking and other conservation efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2004, after visiting Wakehurst, scientists from Kunming in Yunnan province built the germplasm, which is a Noah\u2019s Ark-type project to protect biodiversity that has so far collected over 11,000 wild seeds from across China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Germplasm comprises the germ cells and their precursors that serve as bearers of heredity.<\/p>\n

The display focuses on Southwest China\u2019s Yunnan province, which has long been regarded as China\u2019s floral kingdom and hosts the largest flower market in Asia.<\/p>\n

Godber said that he hopes visitors will leave with a greater appreciation of the beauty of orchids, and also an understanding of their importance and the culture behind them.<\/p>\n

For more visit\u00a0China Daily<\/a><\/p>\n

For subscriptions on news from China Daily, or inquiries, please contact China Daily Africa Ltd on +254 20 6920900 or write to enquiries@chinadailyafrica.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIJING, China, Feb 23 \u2014 For people in China, February often means the excitement of Spring Festival, but in Europe, the wet, gloomy skies can make it a miserable time. So it\u2019s \u201ca happy accident\u201d that this is the very time when London\u2019s Kew Gardens holds its annual Orchid Festival, which has a China theme […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}