China's southern city of Guangzhou will stage grand folk performance on both sides of the Pearl River to welcome the athletes of 16th Asian Games on Nov.12th, when the opening ceremony is to be held.

The athletes will be taken to the opening ceremony by boat. The boat cruise on the Pearl River will be a major highlight of the opening ceremony.

Legions of performers will play various musical instruments of different Asian countries to hail the coming athletes.

Six temporary stages have been prepared on both banks of the river for the performances. The grand show will demonstrate local flavor of south China culture.

The host city of the forthcoming Asian Games has been adorned with about 50 million pots of flowers in keeping with Guangzhou's reputation as "a city of flowers".

Wang Guoru, director with Guangzhou Forestry Bureau, said, "During the preparation for the Asian Games, we have made a series of measures to make the city more beautiful."

According to officials at the nursery of flowers for the Asian Games, it takes about 50 days for a plant to grow from a sapling to a flower. Major flowers to be featured at the Asian Games venues include cockscomb, petunia, and periwinkle.

Wang Guoru, director with Guangzhou Forestry Bureau, said, "There are a total of 50 million pots of flowers with over 130 species. They are selected through public voting and expert evaluation."

According to gardening officials, the prices of these flowers range from two to hundreds of yuan per pot. The flowers to adorn the games venues will cost 150 million yuan (about 22 million U.S. dollars).

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