At the ongoing 20th Peony Fair, businessmen and tourists from across the world including Japan, France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Singapore have come to Luoyang for their peony business.

The city has developed over 700 kinds of peonies and has established some 70 breeding bases with a total cultivated land of 14,000 mu, about 933 hectares.

Since the first peony fair was held in 1982, Luoyang peonies have become the showcase of the city's opening to the outside, and an important channel for attracting overseas investment.

A dozen cities in Japan, France, Bulgaria, the United States and the Republic of Korea have become sister-cities of Luoyang, known as the "Capital of the Nine Dynasties", which boasts many ancient relics and tourist sites such as the Long Men Grottoes, the White Horse Temple, China's first official Buddhist temple, and the Shaolin Temple known for its martial arts monastery.

Historical records show that the breeding and planting of peonies by Luoyang people started in the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and continued during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2003)