Luoyang, China's famous city of peony in Henan Province, will hold its grand t'ai chi ch'uan show with some 30,000 performers at the opening ceremony of its annual peony festival between April 10 and 25.

Master Chen Zhenglei, the 11th direct line successor of Chen-style t'ai chi, will lead the performance along with masters of other four major styles of the traditional Chinese shadow boxing.

The performance will create a world record in terms of the number of participants and its level -- all leading masters of t'ai chi will attend the event, according to the organizers.

Besides the epic kung fu show, the 16-day festival will allow visitors to view a sea of blooming peony trees lining almost every street and corner of the city in Central China.

Boasting nearly 10 million peony trees with more than 700 species, Luoyang enjoys the reputation of "the city of peony." As a capital of several dynasties, it has a history of over 1,000 years in the cultivation of peony trees.

In China, peony symbolizes wealth and nobleness due to its large flowers. Many people regard peony as the "king of flowers" and as China's national flower.

Luoyang has held the annual peony festival since 1983, and has attracted a total of 44 million domestic and overseas tourists during the past 21 festivals.

Along with the flower gala, dozens of trade fairs and cultural exhibitions will also be held.

Guo Congbin, vice-mayor of Luoyang, said the peony fairs have become a showcase for the city's development and also an important channel for mutual understanding between Luoyang and the outside world.

He said around 31 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) worth business deals have been signed during the past 21 peony fairs.

Guo revealed that the municipal government will put forward a new city construction plan for the first time at the upcoming festival.

The new city area -- covering an area of 71.3 square kilometers -- is situated to the south of the present area, according to Xu Lin, vice-director of the Development and Construction Office of the Luoyang new area.

A total of 9.5 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in investment is expected this year and more than 25 projects will make their debuts at the peony festival.

Xu said municipal government organs had moved to the new area. Business centers, universities, sports venues and large public gardens are planning to be located in the new area.

(China Daily March 18, 2004)