Tulips galore at Expo 2024 Chengdu

On Friday 26 April, the  International Horticultural Exhibition 2024 Chengdu opened its gates in the Chinese city of Chengdu. With the theme of ‘Park City, Beautiful Habitat,’ Expo 2024 Chengdu will bring the beauty and wonder of plants and flowers to millions. Fien & Teun, the characters of a Dutch kids TV show, honoured with a purpose-built Fien & Teun theme park in Wenzhou last year, promoted Dutch tulips .

The Expo 2024 Chengdu is a 6-month, AIPH-approved B category Expo spanning 242 hectares in Chengdu, the 20 million capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan which is home to more than 20 million people.

Standing out proudly among the many themed gardens was the Dutch Fien & Teun tulip garden, the result of a blossoming collaboration between the World Tulip Society, IGMPR Imagineering Horti Culture – a consultancy and design firm offering a full spectrum of services for floral attractions, flower festivals and parks -,  and Van Hoorne Entertainment who created the Fien & Teun preschool show in 2014.

For many years now, the Fien & Teun kids TV show has been a familiar sight on Dutch TV screens. Its characters, the farmer’s children Fien & Teun, recognisable by their typical Dutch costumes, have spawned three movies, toys, books and a DVDs.

Last year, the children’s programme rose to international stardom when a standalone Fien & Teun Forest Farm theme park opened in Whenzou, Zhejiang province. The amusement park is dedicated to creating experiences that provide fun and stimulate learning and imagination.

Analogous to the Fien & Teun series, the temporary themed garden at the Expo Chengdu 2024 – open during the first two weeks of the Expo – was designed to offer the young target group the opportunity to learn and get to know the world of Dutch tulips. The protagnists. Fien & Teun, were on hand to guide children around in a colourful setting including flower fields, floral installations and a quintessential Dutch windmill.

An agricultural business delegation led by Dutch agricultural Counsellor  for China and Mongolia, Erik Schmidt visited the tulip garden and enthused about the way how the Expo’s tulip Fien & Teun garden helps putting Dutch tulips and horticulture on the map.