Yunnan Province, known as the ``kingdom of tobacco" in China, is changing its image and striving to become a place famous for growing flowers. Although Yunnan's tobacco industry is an important one, the province should broaden its economic horizons, Yunnan Governor Li Jiating said.
China has 300 million cigarette smokers, and Yunnan is the country's major tobacco grower. Nearly two-thirds of the provincial tax revenue comes from this industry, which has been the pillar industry of the province since the 1980s.
Yunnan is a less-developed province compared with China's eastern coastal areas. It ranks 25th, 23rd and 22nd in the country in terms of per capita income, foreign investment and total volume of retail trade.
As part of China's all-out efforts to develop its western regions, Yunnan is taking the initiative to readjust its industrial structure and better tap its local resources. As a preliminary step, the province is putting efforts into expanding its flower industry with advanced cultivation technology and the introduction of fine species.
The local geological and climatic conditions are ideal for the growth of flowers. Yunnan has 2,000 kinds of wild flowers. Eighty percent of its flowers are sold to other provinces, and many rare flowers sell well overseas.
Dounan Village in the suburbs of Kunming, the provincial capital, boasts a large flower market, and its residents, who provide flowers to wholesalers from other parts of the country, have benefited greatly from flower cultivation.
Furthermore, Yunnan has abundant water resources and a great potential for power energy development. Promising economic sectors for exploitation include tea production, solar energy and mineralextraction and processing. The province is the fourth-largest tea production base in the country.
Meanwhile, tourism continues to boom in Yunnan, attracted by its beautiful scenery and the colorful customs of its many ethnic-minority inhabitants. It has joined hands with Hong Kong to jointly tap tourism markets. The China '99 International Horticultural Exposition attracted large numbers of visitors, greatly boosted the local economy and spread knowledge of Yunnan across the globe.
Yunnan shares a long border with Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, providing great scope for border trade. Last year, its border trade with Vietnam increased by 68 percent.
According to Governor Li, along with the central government decision to develop the western parts of China, Yunnan is bound to reap benefits during the period of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005).
