Chang'an Avenue Flower Beds: A Splendid Scroll of the New Era

When the autumn morning light shines on Chang'an Avenue, 22 sets of giant three-dimensional flower beds bloom as scheduled. From Jianguomen to Fuxingmen, this "Number One Street in China," which has witnessed countless historical moments, is telling the story of New Era China through flowers.

🌺 National Narratives in Floral Language
This year's themed flower bed "Welcoming the 20th National Congress" uses a landscape painting as the base, outlining modern elements like high-speed trains and spacecraft with traditional flowers such as osmanthus and chrysanthemums. The most eye-catching is the "Great Journey" flower bed at Dongdan intersection, which uses green sculptures to recreate revolutionary holy sites like Jinggangshan and Yan'an. At night, with lighting, the torch relief changes colors in sync with music.

📍 Check-in Guide:
1️⃣ "Innovative Development" flower bed at the northwest corner of Jianguomen
The designer used 3D printing technology to create a chip-shaped green sculpture, with Easter eggs like the "Jiaolong" hidden in the flower border. It looks most sci-fi when the blue-purple lighting comes on at dusk.

2️⃣ "Coordinated Development" flower bed in front of Oriental Plaza
The urban and rural landscape built with three-dimensional hydrangeas hides rotating windmills and LED screens that play real-time harvest scenes from various places. A little secret: when shooting against the light in the morning, the dew on the petals creates a natural starburst effect.

3️⃣ "Open Development" flower bed at Xidan Cultural Square
Inspired by the "Belt and Road" initiative, the flower boat design contains a clever detail—the peony at the bow changes color daily with the temperature, turning pink above 25°C and pale yellow below.

🌿 From Imperial Gardens to Urban Art
The horticultural wisdom behind these flower beds actually comes from Beijing’s more than 700 years of flower cultivation history. During the Yuan Dynasty, the royal family grew flowers in Fengtai to offer to the palace; by the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a "Flower Market Street" had formed outside Chongwenmen. Many chrysanthemums used in the Chang'an Avenue flower beds today come from the Beijing small chrysanthemum bonsai techniques inherited from Beihai Park.

At dusk on Chang'an Avenue, the shadows of flowers and the light trails of traffic weave into a flowing feast. Standing on the Tiananmen Gate Tower and looking out, you’ll find that the axis of all the flower beds points to the Monument to the People's Heroes—perhaps this is a uniquely Chinese romance: using blooming flowers to pay tribute to ideals that never fade.

Post by Alexander Carmichael78 | Aug 26, 2025