News from around china

Heze International Peony Festival Still Open

The annual international peony festival in Heze, east China's Shandong Province, which opened last month, will run until May 8. This is still a good time of year to appreciate the beauty of late-blossoming peonies, especially in. Heze, the world's largest growing region at 5,333 hectares, for the flower.

Peonies are among the favourite flowers of Chinese, and were especially adored by successive imperial families because of their delicacy and striking colours, which symbolized magnificence, nobility and prosperity.

Visitors to Heze in particular are amazed at the scene of huge stretches of peonies, in one instance more than 133 hectares forming a single patch. Overall, Heze grows more than 1,000 species in red, white and green. Heze grows more than 1,000 species of peony, including red, white and green. Their flowering period used to last only one week, but modern technology has extended this to about one month.

Heze began growing peonies around the mid-1500s. The annual festival, first held in 1992, attracts more than one million visitors, earning a revenue averaging 120 million yuan (about US$14.46 million). China’s other major peony festival opened in Luoyang, Henan Province, on April 8.

Coloured Waterfalls Discovered in Shangri-La

A splendid coloured waterfall cluster has been discovered in Niru Village, Shangri-La County, Yunnan. Descending from a 20-metre-high fan-shaped calcium carbonate mesa, the cluster and its surrounding luxuriant virgin forest and crystal-clear river perfectly complement each other. Illuminated by sunshine, these waterfalls are described by local people as beautiful as rainbows.

Measurements taken by the local surveying department confirm that the waterfall cluster is 330 metres in width, and is comprised of more than 40 waterfalls of various size. Multicoloured mineral deposits on the broad mesa, such as calcium carbonate, have coloured the water for more than 1,000 years.

Niru Village is located in the heart of the so-called "Three Parallel Rivers," which are on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The local government will adopt various measures to protect the original landscape, including control of the number of tourists, It will also introduce horses as a means of transportation.

Chinese Able to Travel to 100 Overseas Destinations

The number of countries and regions granting China Approved Destination Status (ADS) will reach 100 at the end of this year, according to the China National Tourist Association (CNTA).

China opened outbound travel in 1997, when 5.32 million people made trips overseas. By April 1 this year, China has already acquired ADS with 64 countries and regions, with 30 in Europe, 18 in Asia, 10 in Africa, three in Oceania and one in America, said a CNTA spokesman. 

Association statistics show that the number of outbound tourists from China reached 28.85 million in 2004, and amounted to 4.9 million in the first two months of this year, a jump of 11.6 percent year-on-year. In addition, Chinese outbound tourists contributed US$15.4 billion in tourist spending globally in 2002, up 11 percent over the previous year and ranking seventh in the world.

Chinese tourists spend heavily on products during trips to developed countries such as Switzerland and Australia. Travel agencies say they spend an average $175 per day on personal items and souvenirs.