The first China Qinghai Tulip Festival will showcase more than 54 varieties of the flower next month in Xining, capital city of northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Wang Xiaoyong, deputy mayor of Xining, said on Thursday that the five-day festival on May 12-16 would provide a platform for China's latest achievements in tulip cultivation.

During the festival, a total of 1.12 million tulips will be on show at over 40 venues in Xining's major parks, squares and streets.

Qinghai Provincial People's Government will also arrange other activities including investment opportunities, trade talks, sight-seeing and recreational and cultural events.

The festival organizing committee has invited more than 20 foreign florists to attend.

Located in the northeast of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai is the source of the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Lancang rivers. It boasts spectacular scenery like snow-capped mountains, glaciers, forests, grasslands, canyons, and the Gobi desert.

Wang Xiaoyong predicted that the festival would attract more than 50,000 visitors from China and abroad.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2002)