The unveiling ceremony takes place for China's first flower-themed recreation area -- Huacai Town in Wuxi's Jiulong Bay. It was held in Binhu district on Sept 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Huacai Town in Wuxi's Jiulong Bay was conferred the title of flower-themed recreation area by the national technical committee on leisure standardization on Sept 25, the first in China to receive the honor.

As an outstanding flower tourism project, Huacai Town met or surpassed requirements for the title on its location, planning, infrastructure, flowers, leisure facilities, landscape and services, according to Zhang Lingguang, director of the committee.

Located on the shores of Taihu Lake, Hucai Town covers an area of 141.5 hectares. It is designed to be a new visual garden complex, where flower lovers can come and admire a variety of different species.

Over the past decade, the development plans for Huacai Town have taken the consumer's experience as its direction, flower culture as its theme, leisure as the main content and flowers as the key attraction.

It is now home to popular gardens, a theme park – "Flower Planet" – as well as flower-themed hotels, various amusements and other flower-related commercial locations.

Officials said the scenic area combines sightseeing tours of flowers, parent-child play with a captivating holiday resort.

The first Maple Festival of Hucai Town kicks off in Binhu district on Sept 25. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The first Maple Festival of Hucai Town opened on the same day -- as over 3,000 maple trees in the scenic area enter the best time of the year for visitors to come and take a look during the National Day holiday.

Li Yuxiang, general manager of Hucai Town, said at the launch ceremony that cultural experience activities and sports events would feature at the festival.

He revealed that several newly introduced maples in Flower Planet will present visitors with a glorious experience, as they take in the rich colors of autumn.

The glorious color of a red maple [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]