In the international garden of Zhengzhou Garden Expo Park, the Maribor garden, themed on "living in transition: rethinking the fluid landscape", is very impressive. The river divides the park into two parts: the ground landscape and the pavilion with panoramic slope, which is the most special. The slope represents living on the edge (the transition between the Alps and the Pannonian Plain), creating a landscape oriented by Slovenia's unique regional customs, together with elements like Klopotec, a wooden windmill-like mechanism used to drive away birds from vineyards. Hanging around the garden, you can't help but wonder about the mysterious Maribor.
Maribor is the second-largest city in Slovenia. It is a railroad and highway hub, an important industrial center, and also the center for economy, transportation, culture, education and scientific research in northeast Slovenia. Located in the center of Europe, Maribor is a famous tourist destination, cultural city and winter sports center. The gothic Maribor Cathedral built in the 12th century, the renaissance-style Maribor Town Hall, the oldest grapevine, the Pohorje national park, etc. are all internationally renowned. Maribor has a long history of winemaking, with the largest wine cellar in central Europe and the oldest vineyard in the world.
Maribor was named an "Alpine City" in 2000, "European Capital of Culture" and "European Drift City" in 2012, and "European Capital of Youth" in 2013.
In September 2017, deputy mayor of Maribor and his delegation arrived in Zhengzhou to attend the opening ceremony of the 11th China (Zhengzhou) International Garden Expo. On September 30, Zhengzhou and Maribor signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing Sister City Relationships. Based on the principle of mutual benefit, the two sides would carry out exchanges and cooperation in various forms in economy, trade, science and technology, culture, education, sports, health and human resources to promote common prosperity and development.
As an international friendly exchange city of Zhengzhou, Maribor has broad prospects for cooperation with Zhengzhou and even Henan. Having been actively cooperating with Zhengzhou for many years, Maribor hopes to develop a long-term pragmatic partnership with Zhengzhou to further promote exchanges in logistics, transportation, food, environment, education, tourism and sports, which will help increase the popularity of Zhengzhou in central and eastern European countries and accelerate the construction of inland open highland.
