'Sponge city'

A stainless mirror maze was built in the park with a sculpture sitting on the wall. Yang Yu, a landscape designer at the China Architecture Design and Research Group, says the overall design of the landscape and buildings was overseen by Li Xinggang, who is best known for being the Chinese chief architect of the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, the main venue of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. "We have also built a stainless mirror maze on one of the hills and placed a sculpture of a jade rabbit and an astronomer in it to amuse children. We call it 'Interstellar Maze'," she says, adding that visitors will also get to appreciate plants such as North American crabapple and Japanese evening cherry. "We hope after several years the 'sponge park' can also treat the soil so that it will become more fertile in future," she adds.