Int'l Peony Festival opens in E. China's Heze
( Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-04-13 13:22

However, according to local tourism officials, the best time to view the peonies won't be until this weekend due to the recent cool weather. 
 

Peony is a favorite flower of Chinese, valued for their large size and striking color.

Heze, a city in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, is the world's largest peony growing region with about 5,333 hectares devoted to the flower's cultivation, and has been growing the flowers since the mid sixteenth century.

The festival, begun in 1992, annually hosts more than 1 million visitors and brings in on average 120 million yuan (around US $14.46 million).

Another major peony festival, opened April 8, is also underway in Luoyang, in central China's Henan Province.