If you ask someone in Zhejiang Province in east China: What people should cultivate to make the most money? The answer will likely be: Flowers!

Besides the expanding demand for flowers, new flower breeds from other countries are also a major contributor to the booming floral industry.

Today, Daming discovers how a new type of lily from the Netherlands is helping to increase local farmers' revenue.

Summer is the time for harvesting lilies. Walking through any greenhouse in the Guishan village in Zhejiang Province, you can see many workers cutting and collecting the flowers.

Yu Guoping runs a greenhouse Guishan. He says during the harvesting season, each employee works about nine to 10 hours every day.


"Flowers are different from other plants. The period they can remain fresh is really short, no more than three days. If we don't work hard to harvest them and get them into the market as soon as possible, we probably will not get any orders."

Yu ships his lilies to Hangzhou and Shanghai where he has several regular customers.

In the beginning, Yu says he was not good at growing and selling flowers. As a college student, he majored in advertising design, and his first job was as an advertisement designer at a small company in Hangzhou. He says it was a coincidence that led him to the floral industry.


"I had a friend who used to be a clerk in a company that sold a certain kind of plant. He told me he wanted to start his own company. He said it could be beneficial for both of us. After some discussion, we chose lilies as our product."

But soon after they got their business up and running, Yu and his partner encountered several difficulties. Because of a lack of technology and selling experience, many of their beautiful lilies went to waste.


"In the beginning, we didn't even know when to water them or when to fertilize them. As they grew, we had to use pesticides to get rid of the worms. However, we usually couldn't decide on the right time to use the pesticides. When it came to the time to cut the flowers, we lacked experience. As a result, lots of them went to waste."

In 2006, Yu and his partner solved most of the problems after they did some research on the best places to grow lilies in China. They chose Guishan County in Zhejiang and used a greenhouse as a planting base. Then they took classes on how to raise flowers. After these preparations, they restarted their business.

Yu says he is so happy that his business has improved, and he is eager to share his experiences.


"First, as a seller, you have to know your market well. For example, if you would like sell your products to Yunnan, which is another major flower producing province in China, you have to do it when it is not the flower season there. Then you have to pay attention to the quality of your plants. And, of course, credibility is important. You have to make your customers trust you."

Yu says although his business has improved considerably, he sometimes still makes mistakes. In order not to run into the flower season in Yunnan, he planted some seeds in January and intended to cut the flowers in May. But a serious cold spell in late spring destroyed many the fledgling plants. Yu says he was prepared for this kind of problem.


"Growing relies largely on the weather. There are always problems. How to reduce the damage is what we should think about. Technology is a very important part of it. Now that we have control of the cutting technology, we can decide which flowers can be cut. And if there are leftovers we know how to deal with them."

Yu says running his flower business is a little difficult, but he believes he can still make it better. He dreams of someday selling his lilies throughout China and perhaps in other countries.

For CRI, I'm Daming.