THREE flower expos will be held in Shenzhen's Luohu, Futian and Nanshan districts to welcome the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 29 this year. Several thousand varieties of flowers and potted plants will be on sale, many of which are expected to be less expensive than last year.

The Shenzhen Spring Festival Flower Expo, the largest of its kind in Shenzhen, will be held from Jan. 24 through 28 on Aiguo Road in Luohu. An annual event now, in its 25th year, the expo features not only a great variety of flowers and potted plants, but also artwork associated with the Spring Festival, including chinaware, decorations, calligraphy and paintings.

The expo in Nanshan, which starts Jan. 21 and lasts until Feb. 12, will be held at five venues in order to facilitate sales, including a major venue at Nanshan Flower World near the Nantou Bus Station, and four venues in Xili, Shekou, Houhai and Taoyuan subdistricts.

Futian's expo, located on Fuzhong Road 1 and Mintian Road near the Citizens' Center, will highlight a collection of expensive flowers imported from abroad.

Futian expo began auctioning booths to retailers only two years ago and it was the first expo in the city to do so. The most expensive booth this year reached a pricy 30,000 yuan (US$3,800).

"Shenzhen people have very high taste in buying flowers and the market here is quite good. This is why I come here for the expo every year," said Yang Ming-chuan yesterday, who is a florist from Taiwan and the 30,000-yuan booth owner this year.

According to Yang, the "New Year's orange" - a potted orange plant, dahlia and chrysanthemum are the most popular flowers for buyers. However, imported flowers, such as the Japanese orchid, yellow spike orchid and Belgian azalea, are also sold quickly despite their high prices.

As local florists are now able to plant many high-end flowers, which were previously imported from abroad, and more people open flower shops, the prices for many types of flowers might drop greatly, said Yang. However, most orchids will be more expensive as a previous cold front killed many orchid crops.

Flowers are regarded as important Spring Festival decorations for Shenzhen's families. Last year, the Spring Festival flower expos in the three districts attracted tens of thousands of visitors and raked in at least 100 million yuan, according to organizers of the Shenzhen Spring Festival Flower Expo.

Editor: Wing