The orchid cultivation industry has been enjoying fast development in China, with annual sales hitting 100 billion yuan (about US$12.3 billion), said sources with the China Orchid Culture Forum held Sunday in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province.

The people in China have a long history of favoring orchids, which are historical symbols of lofty character and noble sentiment in literature, poetry and painting.

China has so far set up more than 1,000 orchid associations at various levels nationwide, and orchid fans number some 5 million, said the China Orchid Association at the forum.

The country has set up more than about 60 websites specializing in glorifying orchid culture and boosting orchid trade.

Over 50 orchid experts from Hubei, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, the country's major orchid producers, gathered at the forum to confer on the further development of the country's orchid cultivation sector.

They held that advocating orchid culture will help improve moral standards and the public's temperament.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2005)