The suburb of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province will soon be home to the southern hemisphere's largest arboretums.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Guangdong provincial government and the Guangzhou municipal government signed an agreement in Guangzhou Monday to spend five to ten years and a total of 300 million yuan (US$36.1 million) to expand the existing South Arboretum, which attached to a local research institute of the CAS, into a first-class Asian arboretum.

Lu Yongxiang, president of the CAS, said the South Arboretum was originally built in 1956, occupying an area of 300 hectares and showcasing more than 6,000 tropical and subtropical floral species. This arboretum has served as an important base for the maintenance of biological diversity and the conservation of strategic plant resources.

Lu said the enlarged arboretum will play an important role in maintaining the integrity of the country's floral system and will also generate remarkable economic and social returns.

It is expected that, once the arboretum is completed in five to ten years, more than 10,000 floral species will be on display there, making it a first-class Asian subtropical arboretum and possibly the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Guangzhou is located in the subtropical zone near Hong Kong and Macao.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2002)