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This was a first to see bonsai in China at an amazing 5 day convention hosted and organised by Bonsai Clubs International and Asia-Pacific Bonsai and Viewing Stones convention and it was held in September in Guangzhou. The scale of the convention and the bonsai trees on display was the most impressive, the styles were stunning and some very unique and unusual to styles were are used to seeing in the UK. Here are a series of short videos of the main exhibition trees as well as some photographs, hope you enjoy as we did.

 

Given the weather, everyone came with different approaches to trying to stay cool from sporting umbrellas, to various hats, to electric hand held fans, as well as face cloths to aid with wiping away the perspiration. It was hard to stand out in the heat of the day too long and we found the optimum viewing time was around 6.30am before the crowds as well as the temperature got too hot.

Given that there were over 300 trees in this exhibition, you can see that the scale was on the large size for quantity as well as that of the stature of the bonsai’s on display themselves as some of them dwarf the people observing them. It was hard to spend time observing each individually and we walked around the exhibition for many hours and over the 5 days to try to observe some of the different techniques used and discussed any points of interest with fellow convention goers.

The species diversity of the exhibition was great and follow up posts on each individual tree and species will appear over the next few months and some very very unusual like the Blachia as well as Xylosma. The designs and variation of design was also impressive with some magnificent windswept styles as well as root over rock and cascades, and hopefully you can see some more of the detail on the short videos.

Throughout the whole convention there was a steady stream of viewing public as well as the 1200 or so convention goers admiring the trees and the brilliant thing about this event was that the main exhibition trees were in the public park outside for everyone to come and see and enjoy whether you were at the convention or not. There was on site security for the protection of the trees on display but this did not feel intrusive and it was an amazing atmosphere for viewing the trees within such gorgeous surroundings in the Memorial Park.

The bonsai trees given their size and weight were displayed on wrought iron stands that stood from the ground and they presented a consistent image for the overall display and set the trees off to advantage. The backdrop screens being white provided good photographic opportunities as well as again provided a clean and crisp finish to the exhibition. The whole exhibition area was kept immaculate and cleaners regular came round to sweep up any debris, litter and keep the whole site looking good.

Hope you enjoyed the first set of photos and videos and part 2 follows shortly.