AIPH President, Vic Krahn, presented the accolade during the opening ceremony of the 66th Annual Congress of AIPH to Madame Jiang in recognition of her outstanding contribution to ornamental horticulture in China through her leadership of the CFA and support for AIPH.

Congratulating Madame Jiang, AIPH President Vic Krahn said, “This award recognises outstanding achievement and Madame Jiang, who has travelled the world to maximise the Chinese horticulture industry, is a very worthy recipient. Her love for plants and gardens, and her support for horticulture worldwide, has driven her key role in making the Chinese flower, plants and forestry industry what it is today”.

Madame Jiang has been President of the CFA since 1999 where she has grown the organisation that represents ornamentals growers in China. During this period China has become a world leader in ornamentals production. Currently, the Chinese flower industry covers a planting area of 1,227,100 hectares, sales of 128.811 billion yuan (U.S. $2,097.8 million)and exports worth U.S. $646 million, and has become the largest country in the world in terms of planted area.

Madame Jiang has also overseen hugely successful AIPH-approved international horticultural exhibitions including Kunming in 1999, Xi’an in 2011 and Qingdao this year. Her enthusiasm for promoting horticulture through expos continues with Tangshan in 2016 and a major A1 class expo in Beijing in 2019.

Receiving the award, Madame Jiang thanked AIPH for its support for the CFA over many years, adding, “It’s a great honour and surprise for me. I’d like to share the honour with all my colleagues and the people who have been working enthusiastically for the prosperity of floriculture in China and all over the world”.

The medal was presented in the presence of Mr. Liu Dongsheng, Deputy Director General of Chinese State Forestry Administration, Mr. Wang Naijing, Vice Chairman of Shandong Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference and Mr. Zhang Xinqi, Mayor of Qingdao as well as over 100 AIPH members and guests attending the congress.