BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The International Horticultural Exhibition 2019 Beijing opens to the public on Monday at the foot of the Great Wall in the Chinese capital's Yanqing district.

Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the opening of the Beijing expo on Sunday evening.

Sharing with the world the concept and approach of green development, the expo demonstrates Chinese people's determination and confidence in building a beautiful China and a beautiful world.

The following are some facts and figures about the Beijing expo and China's ecological progress:

BEIJING EXPO

-- The Beijing expo is scheduled between April 29 and Oct. 7, lasting 162 days.

-- This is the second time China has held such a horticultural expo. The southwestern Chinese city of Kunming held the horticultural expo in 1999.

-- Themed "Live Green, Live Better," the expo covers 503 hectares.

-- The expo has drawn participation of about 110 countries and international organizations as well as more than 120 non-official exhibitors.

-- About 2,500 cultural activities, such as parades and performances of world ethnic cultures, will be held throughout the expo, an average of 15 for each day.

-- The expo is poised to impress an estimated 16 million visitors from home and abroad with a huge collection of plants, flowers and eye-catching pavilions.

ECOLOGICAL PROGRESS

-- Over the past 40 years, China's forest area and forest stock volume have both doubled.

-- Its forest coverage rate has increased to 21.66 percent.

-- The country is home to the world's largest man-made forest in scale, with a preserved area of 69 million hectares.

-- A recent Boston University study based on NASA satellite data shows that China alone accounts for 25 percent of the global net increase in leaf area over the last two decades.

-- Between 2013 and 2018, China completed afforestation of 40 million hectares. The forest area amounts to 215 million hectares in total.

-- The national reserve forest system has been established, with 3.18 million hectares of forest being either constructed or delineated as the national reserve.

-- Deterioration of the grassland ecological environment has been curbed, with the comprehensive vegetation coverage exceeding 55.7 percent.

-- China has established a protection scheme by assigning each waterway a specific steward, or "river or lake chief," amid efforts to treat water pollution.

-- By 2018, the country has appointed over 300,000 river chiefs and 24,000 lake chiefs at or above township level, and over 930,000 river chiefs and 33,000 lake chiefs at village level.