By Ou Shuyi
KUNMING _ Visitors marvel at the dazzling collection of plants and exotically
designed buildings, like the Manand Nature Hall, when they walk into the World Horti-Expo
Garden. The hall has glass walls and a shining clover-shaped roof. A pond resembling a blossoming lotus is outside.
As the theme hall of Expo '99, the Man and Nature Hall is expected to highlight
the expo's theme "man and nature." "That is fairly abstract and leaves much room for creation," said Fan Jianhua, director of Yunnan Folk Art Association.
Fan and his colleagues spent more than four months creating the abstract idea, and making it a reality. "We wanted to present an exhibition not about Yunnan nor China, but the world," said Fan.
The Man and Nature Hall, which covers 4,953 square metres, is divided into three sections.
The first section, "the Common Homeland," reflects the agriculture-dominant age when man relied primarily on nature, and the relationship between man and nature was comparatively harmonious.
The second section, "Only One Earth," focuses on the highly industrialized age when man began destroying the
environment and was punished by nature.
The third section, "Everlasting Oasis," highlights achievements man has made in protecting the environment
and promotes public awareness regarding the environment.
The exhibit conveys the idea the Earth does not belong to humans, but that humans belong to the Earth, Fan
said.
A huge painting, featuring people of all races striving to survive in ancient times, hangs at the hall's entrance.
Various institutions and organizations throughout the world, including Xinhua News Agency, provided Fan's
group with more than 10,000 pictures.
Visitors may not have seen such a collection of pictures relating to man and nature before, Fan said.
A 16-square-metre screen, composed of televisions, was set up in the hall. It broadcasts a 30-minute documentary highlighting 10 environmental issues _ from water and air pollution to nuclear radiation, and
expansion of desert areas to the slaughter of wild animals.
The documentary, edited from more than 3,000 minutes of footage, provides audiences with impressive,
eye-catching pictures, Fan notes.
Five pieces of cloth, each 50 metres long and symbolic of the five continents, hang from the ceiling.
Visitors can sign their names on the cloth.
Fifty thousand packages of tree seeds will be handed out to young visitors in an effort to promote
environmental protection.
"We hope countries will work together to preserve, protect, and restore the global ecosystem," said Fan.
Photo(upper right): Visitors look in the plants displayed at the Man and Nature Hall. The plants are
endangered species.)