Suburban Watermelon Fair Opens in Urban District of Beijing

Daxing County of Beijing, which has successfully held 12 watermelon festivals, held the opening ceremony for the 13th Watermelon Festival yesterday at the Xidan Culture Square in downtown Beijing.

Daxing County, situated in the south of Beijing, has a watermelon planted area of over 60,000 mu (one hectare = 15 mu) and an annual total output of the product topping 200 million kg.

Unlike previous fairs, this time, more prominence is given to the character of watermelon culture, , these aspects, ranging from trade talks and investment invitation to the display of economic achievements and cultural exhibition-all have a strong flavor of watermelon culture.

Sources say that during the festival, about 100,000 kg of best watermelons and a batch of fresh vegetables will be shown and sold at the Xidan Culture Square. The largest Beijing watermelon, the "Melon King", weighs 34.17 kg, together with some other "melon kings", will also be shown here.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/