Chinese florists' growing IPR awareness
The province has 200,000 flower growers, creating 800,000 jobs in the industry. Commercial flower plantations cover over 100,000 hectares. Last year, the market was worth about 50 billion yuan (about 7.9 billion U.S. dollars).
"Spring is the busiest season, when we experiment with new varieties of hydrangea, roses and Chinese roses," said Yang. Yang learned flower-growing in northeast China from his father and was the first to register a trademark for a Chinese rose.
In order to expand his business after an initial success, Yang relocated to Yunnan in 1998, aiming for a broader overseas market. Now he has 80 hectares of flowers in Yuxi City. "When I came to Yunnan, most flowers on the market were just ordinary, not good enough for export," he said.
Yang started to work with French company Meilland International in 1999. "Until 2008, we exported over 20 million yuan of flowers each year, but our business shrank during the financial crisis," he said.
Farmers like Yang now concentrate on developing new varieties. He holds 39 patents for roses and 9 for hydrangeas. "It takes a great deal of investment and manpower to come up with new strains, but the government has helped me," he said.
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