Luoyang City in Central China's Henan Province next month is to hold 20th Peony Festival with presenting millions of peonies, including over 800 species.

Luoyang's mayor Li Guiji said at a news conference Tuesday that this year's festival is scheduled for April 15 to 25, five days longer than other years due to the peony's prolonged flowering in the warmer weather.

As the 20th anniversary of the peony festival, it will hold many other activities such as art performances, a relics exhibition, a photographic competition and a lantern festival, in conjunction with the flower show.

In addition, a series of economic and trading activities, including a trade fair and an information technology exhibition, will be held concurrently.

"The Peony Festival has helped the city's investment environment and has hastened its opening up," Li said.

Started in 1983, Luoyang has had 19 successful peony festivals, which have brought positive economic and social benefits.

The trade resulting from contracts signed at previous fairs has brought over 22 billion yuan (about US$2.7 billion), among which foreign investment exceeds US$900 million.

In the past two decades, 571 foreign-funded businesses have been established in Luoyang with a total input of US$2.6 billion.

In addition, over 20 countries, including Japan, France, German as well as the United States, have imported the peony as a precious flower species from Luoyang after attending the Peony Festival.

Li said a Sino-Japanese concert with the theme of "Peony, Oriental Cherry and Friendship" will also be held during this fair. Luoyang has always encouraged foreign exchanges with its worldwide sister cities since its first Peony Fair.

Li stressed that Luoyang should take full advantage of the peony festival to enhance tourism, which has become a new pillar industry for the city with beautiful scenery and historic sites to entertain visitors at home and abroad.

Statistics show that Luoyang received over 12 million domestic visitors and 106,000 foreign visitors last year, bringing a total revenue of 6 billion yuan (about US$726 million).

The peony has been a special flower throughout the country for more than 1,500 years and is the "Queen of the flowers" in China.

Luoyang, once the ancient capital of nine dynasties in Chinese history, is the biggest peony cultivation base in the country as well as the first peony growth center in the world. It has a 5,000-year-history with the tradition of enjoying flowers from the Sui Dynasty (581-618).

Over 39.4 million visitors from all parts of the country and overseas have visited the city to attend its previous 19 fairs.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2002)