The 9th China Camellia Expo has just kicked off, this time in Kunming, capital city of southwest China’s Yunnan province. This is the second time the city has hosted the event in two decades.

Camellia experts, dealers as well as aficionados are being drawn in from around the country. There are more than one thousand kinds of camellias on display. And the 400-thousand plants are scattered in various venues around the city.

The expo runs until March 20th.

Yunnan province has a long history of growing camellias. The flower was cultivated some 1,500 years ago, and can now be seen all over the world.