BEIJING, August 29 -- China has the world's largest flower acreage with 147,500 hectares of flowers planted by the end of last year, Tuesday's Beijing Evening News reported.

The country has over 20,000 fresh flower enterprises, 20,000 flower stores and 2,000 terminal markets, the paper quoted a source from the Chinese Florists Association as saying.

"Some 1.45 million people in China are engaged in the flower business," the report said.

Yunnan Province in the southwest, Guangdong in the south and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Fujian provinces in the east are all major flower production bases.

Few flower-nurturing enterprises are based in Beijing, restricted by its climate. However, its unique geographical position and high consumption rate have turned the Chinese capital into a pivot in the north-south flower exchange and transportation.

For instance, flowers grown in the south are introduced to the northwest and northeast via major terminal markets in Beijing.

With the booming flower industry, the Chinese are spending more on fresh flowers in recent years. Altogether 3.8 billion fresh flowers were sold nationwide in 2000.

In late September this year, Guangdong Province will host an international garden and flower exposition, a move to boost the country's flower industry, which is backed by the rich flower resources, diversified climates, abundant labor forces and immense market potentials.

-- source: Xinhua News Agency

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