Grand Greenhouse, World Horti-Expo Garden (大温室)

The Grand Greenhouse grew out of a project launched in the mid-1990s. On 5 June 1996, at its 119th meeting in Paris, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) awarded Kunming an A1 international horticultural exhibition, the highest category; the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) gave its agreement on 16 September that year in Budapest. Yunnan's provincial government ran the event and entrusted a Yunnan Horticultural Exposition Bureau with building the halls and exhibition areas. The organising committee described the completion of the site in under three years as unprecedented for an exhibition of that rank.

The Expo ran from 1 May to 31 October 1999 under the theme "Man and Nature: Marching into the 21st Century". Its 218-hectare site lies in the Golden Temple (Jindian) scenic area, 4 km from the city centre according to the organisers and 7 km according to the BIE. The greenhouse was one of five large indoor halls, alongside the China Hall, the International Hall, the Man and Nature Hall and the Science and Technology Hall. 68 countries had signed up a few days before opening, 69 or 70 took part in the end, and visitor totals range from 9.43 to 9.5 million.

When the Expo closed, the site became a permanent park, the World Horti-Expo Garden, with the greenhouse kept as one of its facilities. In December 2019 the Overseas Chinese Town (OCT) Group began renovating the park, and entry to the grounds became free on 28 December 2025.

According to the Expo organising committee, the Grand Greenhouse covers 3,630 m² and is distinguished by what it called a "functional" glass facade. The BIE adds that its envelope was made of panels with high light transmission and strong thermal insulation, which allowed plants from tropical, temperate and cold climates to be shown under a single roof.

At 3,630 m², the greenhouse was one of the smaller of the five indoor halls, just ahead of the Science and Technology Hall (3,064 m², crowned by a ball-shaped roof). The courtyard-style China Hall reached 17,451 m² according to the organisers (19,927 m² according to the BIE), the streamlined International Hall 11,000 m², and the cloverleaf-shaped Man and Nature Hall 4,953 m².

The Grand Greenhouse stands south of the Man and Nature Hall; three of its volumes are glass-roofed.

In 1999 the organising committee summed up the greenhouse's programme in four parts: tropical rainforest scenery, ornamental temperate varieties, alpine flowers and plant resources of the cold zones. More than 1,200 species from tropical, subtropical and cold zones had been raised there for the opening; the BIE, for its part, speaks of more than 1,200 varieties.

The greenhouse complemented the Expo's six theme gardens, whose contents the committee also listed: around 20,000 trees of 280 varieties on 2.4 hectares in the Tree Garden, 4,000 bamboo clumps of 266 varieties on 2.57 hectares, more than 500 rare and common medicinal herbs, and 21 varieties of tea tree in the Tea Garden, alongside the Bonsai Garden and the Vegetable and Fruit Garden.

The Grand Greenhouse stands inside the World Horti-Expo Garden, about 700 metres east of Gate 1, which is itself some 300 metres from World Horti-Expo Garden station, the terminus of Kunming Metro Line 5.

A visit fits naturally into a day spent in the park: the theme gardens devoted to trees, tea, bamboo, bonsai, medicinal herbs and fruit and vegetables, the gardens laid out by Chinese provinces and by participating countries, and the nearby Man and Nature Hall. Close to Gate 1, the World Expo Memory cultural block recalls the 1999 event, and the Golden Temple, which gave the scenic area its name, is close by.