Shouguang
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Shouguang (寿光) is a relatively large city located in China's Shandong Province. Nearly one million people reside within the municipality and its surrounding towns and villages.
The city is located approximately thirty minutes east of Zibo, thirty to forty minutes west of downtown Weifang, three hours west of Qingdao and one and a half an hour east of Jinan. From Shouguang, and driving at legal highway speeds, one could reach Beijing in approximately seven hours.
Shouguang is flourishing and boasts a modern downtown area and a new six lane highway leading from the Jiqing Expressway (Jinan to Qingdao) into the heart of the city. The local government is currently focused on developing the city's service, industry and technology sectors as well as maintaining Shouguang's reputation as China's "Home of Vegetables" (蔬菜老乡 pinyin: shucai laoxiang).
The city hosts a vegetable fair every year around May 1st, and artists use fruits, nuts, vegetables, flowers and potted plants to create numerous sculptures and murals. The artwork is displayed at the city's convention center and ten large plant exhibition halls. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the city as well as the adjacent village of San Yuan Wang in 2005 and praised the farmers for the development of their new cultivation techniques. The visit and the efforts of the village head and farmers were featured on national news programs. San Yuan Wang has since erected a large sign displaying Hu and other visiting dignitaries just inside its main village gate in order to celebrate the event.
Due to the city's large year-round harvests, many international trading and trucking companies have opened operations in Shouguang. The city has a vegetable auction house, which provides residents knowledgeable of harvest amounts with substantial extra income through the rapid buying and selling of crops (farmers -> auction house -> individuals/residents -> trading companies and supermarkets). Buying and selling of crops can be conducted online as well as at the auction house.
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