Making their products "green," or pollution-free and environmentally friendly, has become the top priority of Chinese textile mills.

"A Green Textile Industry" is the theme of the Third China Textile Trade Fair, which opened Thursday in Shaoxing of east China's Zhejiang province.

An official of the organizing committee said the theme was chosen to comply with the current trends of the international textile market, which is giving more attention to the "green" aspects of products. Many of the fair's attendee firms support this theme.

The fair, featuring 300-odd exhibition stands, has drawn businesses from seven countries, including the United States, Japan, Germany, the Republic of Korea and Italy. Six companies attending the fair are on the Fortune 500 list.

The five-day fair is sponsored jointly by the Zhejiang Provincial Government, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and a number of other organizations.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2002)