I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip, I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

The flower farm is not a farm - it is instead a set of show rooms for
companies that raise various plants. The goal being to provide the
visitor with an easy place to do business with China. They center of the
farm is an expo center with about 100,000 square feet of exposition
space. There are park like grounds that cover another 20 acres or so,
with very well done landscaping. In short it is one of the most
beautiful garden spots I have been to.

Inside the expo center are all the government agencies that one needs to
deal with to get export and photo sanitary, etc. One stop shopping for
people who need to export or buy flowers, seeds, bulbs or flasks.

Outside the expo center are about 200 acres of show rooms, each on about
1/2 acre.

There are 4 orchid labs in the center. Two that are run by Tawainese
companies and two that are native mainland companies. The two native
companies are sponsored by the provincial government and have on staff
one or more professors from the biological university. Both of the
tawainese companies are findable on the web. Neither of the Chinese
companies are. They were a surprise when we got to the flower world.

The drive is about 4 hours from the nearest airport and about 6 from
Honk Kong. There is no direct highway and no map other than in Chinese.
So I am glad we had a local driver.

Wann Fang Orchid Tissue Culture was the first stop after the expo
center. Nice people, no English - no real understanding of Orchids, the
older brother in Taiwan is moving his business back to China and the
rest of the family is running it for now. They had about 40,000 flasks
of Phals and Catts on hand - about 100 different crosses, all
mericlones. mainly a "Red" house - every cross was going for deeper
reds, many of the crosses had "Brother" Phals as one of the parents.

Very clean, but obviously gotten from someone else, it was not well laid
out for flasking or deflasking. They had about 500,000 plants in 2 inch
pots and about 1000 trays of compots in addition to the flasks. The
driver managed to get from them that they have a deal with the local
government for 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space starting this
fall. The going rate for flasks with 20 plants was 20 RMB - about 2.5 US
dollars.

The goal for blooming size Phals in bud is also 20 RMB bare root with
paperwork...FOB Honk Kong - they are 3 years away from full commercial
production. The new lab (which they had pictures of) will be done in
October - 5 clean rooms with about 2000 square feet of flasking space
and about 3000 square feet of room for mericlone tissue to rotate (over
60 "ferris wheels" in one of the pictures).

They are a "pot plant" Phal house.

The second stop was Plant Biologicals - one of the Chinese companies

Because we did not call ahead - only the workers were there, not
professor or anyone who knew what they were really doing. This company
as a purpose built lab - about 20,000 square feet on the first floor and
2 floors above. We were allowed to look in the windows from the inside
hallway. We were also allowed to examine the trays of flasks moving from
clean room to flask storage and grow rooms. About 1500 flasks were in
the hallway when we arrived, they were all put away during our 30 minute
stay, but another 200 or so appeared. It was the latter 200 that were
interesting... Chinese Phaps....At least 15 species...

We did not find out anymore that day.

The next day the Manager called to apologize that he was not there. His
english was wonderful, he spent a year at Kew and 3 years in Australia,
studying orchid production. They are 6 months from license to export
flasks...He indicated that they will have 100 to 200 types of Phaps and
about 1500 other types of orchids in flask for export. The facility is
sized to do approximately 1,000,000 (!) flasks a year - when Phase II is
complete. They expect that about 80% of the production will be consumed
in China...The other 20% will be for export - 1% or less (of that 20%)
will be exported in flask, the rest as blooming size plants. He
indicated that the target price for 20 plant flasks is in the 30 to 40
RMB range for all of their production. He apologized for the high price,
but indicated that they were being picky about parent plants and what
they were going to sell.

He started the paperwork to get me included on their export license,
even though I told him I could only take 20 to 40 flasks a year.

I have been invited back to the lab, when everyone will be there. As it
stands work should take me back late this fall/early winter.

He indicated that he can get me a hand carry license prior to my return,
since the quantity will be low.

We did not get into the other 2 facilities, but the other Chinese based
facility is obviously Phals...The 3 story artwork on the outside was
wonderful, and I hope my pictures turn out.

I did not bring anything back this trip, since I did not have Chinese
paperwork. I started my export license at the expo center, it takes 45
days to process (down from 175 a year ago - or so the banner indicates).

Cheers

Doug

Great report. Chen-Chun Flower World sounds huge!

I didn't know the Taiwanese and Chinese were doing business together. Would
seem rather touch and go considering politics, unless my understanding is
dated.

I have seen Dr Wang's pictures (Wang of Texas A&M) of Taiwanese orchid
production and it boggles the mind. Huge GH after huge GH filled to the
gills with hundreds of thousands of flasks, mostly phals for the pot plant
trade. I know Taiwan is hungry to get Paphs into similar production also.
Makes US production look like a joke.

There was a push to allow importation of plants in pot rather than in flask.
I haven't seen a report on how that fared with the USDA.

K Barrett

"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip, I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

The flower farm is not a farm - it is instead a set of show rooms for
companies that raise various plants. The goal being to provide the
visitor with an easy place to do business with China. They center of the
farm is an expo center with about 100,000 square feet of exposition
space. There are park like grounds that cover another 20 acres or so,
with very well done landscaping. In short it is one of the most
beautiful garden spots I have been to.

Inside the expo center are all the government agencies that one needs to
deal with to get export and photo sanitary, etc. One stop shopping for
people who need to export or buy flowers, seeds, bulbs or flasks.

Outside the expo center are about 200 acres of show rooms, each on about
1/2 acre.

There are 4 orchid labs in the center. Two that are run by Tawainese
companies and two that are native mainland companies. The two native
companies are sponsored by the provincial government and have on staff
one or more professors from the biological university. Both of the
tawainese companies are findable on the web. Neither of the Chinese
companies are. They were a surprise when we got to the flower world.

The drive is about 4 hours from the nearest airport and about 6 from
Honk Kong. There is no direct highway and no map other than in Chinese.
So I am glad we had a local driver.

Wann Fang Orchid Tissue Culture was the first stop after the expo
center. Nice people, no English - no real understanding of Orchids, the
older brother in Taiwan is moving his business back to China and the
rest of the family is running it for now. They had about 40,000 flasks
of Phals and Catts on hand - about 100 different crosses, all
mericlones. mainly a "Red" house - every cross was going for deeper
reds, many of the crosses had "Brother" Phals as one of the parents.

Very clean, but obviously gotten from someone else, it was not well laid
out for flasking or deflasking. They had about 500,000 plants in 2 inch
pots and about 1000 trays of compots in addition to the flasks. The
driver managed to get from them that they have a deal with the local
government for 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space starting this
fall. The going rate for flasks with 20 plants was 20 RMB - about 2.5 US
dollars.

The goal for blooming size Phals in bud is also 20 RMB bare root with
paperwork...FOB Honk Kong - they are 3 years away from full commercial
production. The new lab (which they had pictures of) will be done in
October - 5 clean rooms with about 2000 square feet of flasking space
and about 3000 square feet of room for mericlone tissue to rotate (over
60 "ferris wheels" in one of the pictures).

They are a "pot plant" Phal house.

The second stop was Plant Biologicals - one of the Chinese companies

Because we did not call ahead - only the workers were there, not
professor or anyone who knew what they were really doing. This company
as a purpose built lab - about 20,000 square feet on the first floor and
2 floors above. We were allowed to look in the windows from the inside
hallway. We were also allowed to examine the trays of flasks moving from
clean room to flask storage and grow rooms. About 1500 flasks were in
the hallway when we arrived, they were all put away during our 30 minute
stay, but another 200 or so appeared. It was the latter 200 that were
interesting... Chinese Phaps....At least 15 species...

We did not find out anymore that day.

The next day the Manager called to apologize that he was not there. His
english was wonderful, he spent a year at Kew and 3 years in Australia,
studying orchid production. They are 6 months from license to export
flasks...He indicated that they will have 100 to 200 types of Phaps and
about 1500 other types of orchids in flask for export. The facility is
sized to do approximately 1,000,000 (!) flasks a year - when Phase II is
complete. They expect that about 80% of the production will be consumed
in China...The other 20% will be for export - 1% or less (of that 20%)
will be exported in flask, the rest as blooming size plants. He
indicated that the target price for 20 plant flasks is in the 30 to 40
RMB range for all of their production. He apologized for the high price,
but indicated that they were being picky about parent plants and what
they were going to sell.

He started the paperwork to get me included on their export license,
even though I told him I could only take 20 to 40 flasks a year.

I have been invited back to the lab, when everyone will be there. As it
stands work should take me back late this fall/early winter.

He indicated that he can get me a hand carry license prior to my return,
since the quantity will be low.

We did not get into the other 2 facilities, but the other Chinese based
facility is obviously Phals...The 3 story artwork on the outside was
wonderful, and I hope my pictures turn out.

I did not bring anything back this trip, since I did not have Chinese
paperwork. I started my export license at the expo center, it takes 45
days to process (down from 175 a year ago - or so the banner indicates).

Cheers

Doug

Hi Doug, Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Do you happen to have
any photos of your trip on a webpage?
Cheers Wendy
"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip, I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

The flower farm is not a farm - it is instead a set of show rooms for
companies that raise various plants. The goal being to provide the
visitor with an easy place to do business with China. They center of the
farm is an expo center with about 100,000 square feet of exposition
space. There are park like grounds that cover another 20 acres or so,
with very well done landscaping. In short it is one of the most
beautiful garden spots I have been to.

Inside the expo center are all the government agencies that one needs to
deal with to get export and photo sanitary, etc. One stop shopping for
people who need to export or buy flowers, seeds, bulbs or flasks.

Outside the expo center are about 200 acres of show rooms, each on about
1/2 acre.

There are 4 orchid labs in the center. Two that are run by Tawainese
companies and two that are native mainland companies. The two native
companies are sponsored by the provincial government and have on staff
one or more professors from the biological university. Both of the
tawainese companies are findable on the web. Neither of the Chinese
companies are. They were a surprise when we got to the flower world.

The drive is about 4 hours from the nearest airport and about 6 from
Honk Kong. There is no direct highway and no map other than in Chinese.
So I am glad we had a local driver.

Wann Fang Orchid Tissue Culture was the first stop after the expo
center. Nice people, no English - no real understanding of Orchids, the
older brother in Taiwan is moving his business back to China and the
rest of the family is running it for now. They had about 40,000 flasks
of Phals and Catts on hand - about 100 different crosses, all
mericlones. mainly a "Red" house - every cross was going for deeper
reds, many of the crosses had "Brother" Phals as one of the parents.

Very clean, but obviously gotten from someone else, it was not well laid
out for flasking or deflasking. They had about 500,000 plants in 2 inch
pots and about 1000 trays of compots in addition to the flasks. The
driver managed to get from them that they have a deal with the local
government for 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space starting this
fall. The going rate for flasks with 20 plants was 20 RMB - about 2.5 US
dollars.

The goal for blooming size Phals in bud is also 20 RMB bare root with
paperwork...FOB Honk Kong - they are 3 years away from full commercial
production. The new lab (which they had pictures of) will be done in
October - 5 clean rooms with about 2000 square feet of flasking space
and about 3000 square feet of room for mericlone tissue to rotate (over
60 "ferris wheels" in one of the pictures).

They are a "pot plant" Phal house.

The second stop was Plant Biologicals - one of the Chinese companies

Because we did not call ahead - only the workers were there, not
professor or anyone who knew what they were really doing. This company
as a purpose built lab - about 20,000 square feet on the first floor and
2 floors above. We were allowed to look in the windows from the inside
hallway. We were also allowed to examine the trays of flasks moving from
clean room to flask storage and grow rooms. About 1500 flasks were in
the hallway when we arrived, they were all put away during our 30 minute
stay, but another 200 or so appeared. It was the latter 200 that were
interesting... Chinese Phaps....At least 15 species...

We did not find out anymore that day.

The next day the Manager called to apologize that he was not there. His
english was wonderful, he spent a year at Kew and 3 years in Australia,
studying orchid production. They are 6 months from license to export
flasks...He indicated that they will have 100 to 200 types of Phaps and
about 1500 other types of orchids in flask for export. The facility is
sized to do approximately 1,000,000 (!) flasks a year - when Phase II is
complete. They expect that about 80% of the production will be consumed
in China...The other 20% will be for export - 1% or less (of that 20%)
will be exported in flask, the rest as blooming size plants. He
indicated that the target price for 20 plant flasks is in the 30 to 40
RMB range for all of their production. He apologized for the high price,
but indicated that they were being picky about parent plants and what
they were going to sell.

He started the paperwork to get me included on their export license,
even though I told him I could only take 20 to 40 flasks a year.

I have been invited back to the lab, when everyone will be there. As it
stands work should take me back late this fall/early winter.

He indicated that he can get me a hand carry license prior to my return,
since the quantity will be low.

We did not get into the other 2 facilities, but the other Chinese based
facility is obviously Phals...The 3 story artwork on the outside was
wonderful, and I hope my pictures turn out.

I did not bring anything back this trip, since I did not have Chinese
paperwork. I started my export license at the expo center, it takes 45
days to process (down from 175 a year ago - or so the banner indicates).

Cheers

Doug

K -

They are doing lots of business, there are 3 CITIES that have been built
for Taiwanese businesses to manufacture things - total population is
about 8 million people... China is taking Capital from anywhere it can
find it.

The governments are not too happy with each other, but capital is
capital and business is business. Do not equate government relations
with business relations.

The Flower World is very large it is the center of a plant production
area that covers some 100 square miles (I am converting loosely from SQ
KM).

I do not know the status of the import rules for pots vs flasks, but I
for one will just be happy to import the flasks of Chinese Phaps and
other China native species.

All the breeding stock is seems comes from a government collection, that
has been culled until only the best flowers remain for breeding. I am
lead to understand that there are over 100,000 plants in the total
collection, but only 500 have been approved as Superior for breeding.

Doug

In article gdJ4b.243047$cF.77689@rwcrnsc53,
"K Barrett" wrote:

Great report. Chen-Chun Flower World sounds huge!

I didn't know the Taiwanese and Chinese were doing business together. Would
seem rather touch and go considering politics, unless my understanding is
dated.

I have seen Dr Wang's pictures (Wang of Texas A&M) of Taiwanese orchid
production and it boggles the mind. Huge GH after huge GH filled to the
gills with hundreds of thousands of flasks, mostly phals for the pot plant
trade. I know Taiwan is hungry to get Paphs into similar production also.
Makes US production look like a joke.

There was a push to allow importation of plants in pot rather than in flask.
I haven't seen a report on how that fared with the USDA.

K Barrett

"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip, I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

SNIP

I'm astounded.
These plants would be going where? Japan? Europe?

K
"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
K -

They are doing lots of business, there are 3 CITIES that have been built
for Taiwanese businesses to manufacture things - total population is
about 8 million people... China is taking Capital from anywhere it can
find it.

The governments are not too happy with each other, but capital is
capital and business is business. Do not equate government relations
with business relations.

The Flower World is very large it is the center of a plant production
area that covers some 100 square miles (I am converting loosely from SQ
KM).

I do not know the status of the import rules for pots vs flasks, but I
for one will just be happy to import the flasks of Chinese Phaps and
other China native species.

All the breeding stock is seems comes from a government collection, that
has been culled until only the best flowers remain for breeding. I am
lead to understand that there are over 100,000 plants in the total
collection, but only 500 have been approved as Superior for breeding.

Doug

In article gdJ4b.243047$cF.77689@rwcrnsc53,
"K Barrett" wrote:

Great report. Chen-Chun Flower World sounds huge!

I didn't know the Taiwanese and Chinese were doing business together.
Would
seem rather touch and go considering politics, unless my understanding
is
dated.

I have seen Dr Wang's pictures (Wang of Texas A&M) of Taiwanese orchid
production and it boggles the mind. Huge GH after huge GH filled to the
gills with hundreds of thousands of flasks, mostly phals for the pot
plant
trade. I know Taiwan is hungry to get Paphs into similar production
also.
Makes US production look like a joke.

There was a push to allow importation of plants in pot rather than in
flask.
I haven't seen a report on how that fared with the USDA.

K Barrett

"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip,
I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

SNIP

Excuse my tired body and mind...I did "Phap" should have been "Paph"
....that is what I get for not sleeping for more than 48 hours...

They are going all over asia and to Europe...Some of the major Dutch
companies have opened growing areas.

Doug

In article ,
"K Barrett" wrote:

I'm astounded.
These plants would be going where? Japan? Europe?

K
"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
K -

They are doing lots of business, there are 3 CITIES that have been built
for Taiwanese businesses to manufacture things - total population is
about 8 million people... China is taking Capital from anywhere it can
find it.

The governments are not too happy with each other, but capital is
capital and business is business. Do not equate government relations
with business relations.

The Flower World is very large it is the center of a plant production
area that covers some 100 square miles (I am converting loosely from SQ
KM).

I do not know the status of the import rules for pots vs flasks, but I
for one will just be happy to import the flasks of Chinese Phaps and
other China native species.

All the breeding stock is seems comes from a government collection, that
has been culled until only the best flowers remain for breeding. I am
lead to understand that there are over 100,000 plants in the total
collection, but only 500 have been approved as Superior for breeding.

Doug

In article gdJ4b.243047$cF.77689@rwcrnsc53,
"K Barrett" wrote:

Great report. Chen-Chun Flower World sounds huge!

I didn't know the Taiwanese and Chinese were doing business together.
Would
seem rather touch and go considering politics, unless my understanding
is
dated.

I have seen Dr Wang's pictures (Wang of Texas A&M) of Taiwanese orchid
production and it boggles the mind. Huge GH after huge GH filled to the
gills with hundreds of thousands of flasks, mostly phals for the pot
plant
trade. I know Taiwan is hungry to get Paphs into similar production
also.
Makes US production look like a joke.

There was a push to allow importation of plants in pot rather than in
flask.
I haven't seen a report on how that fared with the USDA.

K Barrett

"doug houseman" wrote in message
...
I just returned from a 3 week business trip to China. During the trip,
I
had a chance to visit the Chen-Chun Flower World in For Sung City.

SNIP

doug houseman wrote in message .. .
Excuse my tired body and mind...I did "Phap"


There was an old comic strip called -Our Boarding House- that featured
a character named Major Hoople. When he was tired or exasperated he
also said "Fap!" You're in good company.


J. Del Col