With flowers being sold worldwide and overseas florists swarming it Guangdong, dubbed "natural greenhouse", is becoming the "world's flower nursery".

Thanks to its climate Guandong has always been a province developed in flower industry. In recent years florists in Guangdong are no longer content with dominance in the domestic flower market and actively participating in the exchange and competition at the international market. Through introducing foreign investment, exporting for foreign exchange and working hard to innovate a group of internationally competitive export-oriented flower bases have emerged. By now along the west bank of the Pearl River Delta a modern "flower corridor" with both market and capital abroad has sprung in the Guangzhou - Foshan - Zhongshan - Zhuhai region.

At the "flower world" of Shunde Chencun more than half of the companies come from abroad. Within the flower market zone of nearly 10,000 mu (667 hectares), which was built with more than 1.5 billion yuan introduced funds, 200-odd flower-specialized firms from S.Korea, Singapore, Australia, Japan and Holland have moved in.

Large export-oriented flower nurseries like this are becoming more and more in Guangdong. According to incomplete statistics Guangdong has established more than 600 foreign-invested flower firms and attracted nearly $800 million foreign investment. Through international exchanges in technology, seeds and seedling, equipment and management the local flower industry has picked up its pace of blending into the international market. Province-wide flower-growing area has expanded to nearly 1.3 million mu (87,000 hectares) and the output value has exceeded 10 billion yuan.

More and more Guangdong flowers and potted landscapes are being sold briskly worldwide. Flowers imported from Guangdong account for more than 40 percent of the market in Hong Kong and Macao. The largest flower producer in the world Holland imports about 12 million potted landscapes from Guangdong each year with the output value topping $20 million. In Guangdong foreign exchange generated by flower export has exceeded $500 million in average each year for the last few years.

By People's Daily Online