In keeping with the year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac, the orchids will be displayed at the Specialty Hall at Taiwan Orchid Plantation (TOP) in Tainan, the venue of the show, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.

The monkey orchid, known scientifically as Dracula simia, grows in the mountainous regions of Ecuador, Colombia and Peru and looks like the grinning face of a very small monkey.

It will be highlighted at the exhibition, which will have six themed halls over a total area of 20,000 square meters.

Besides the Specialty Hall, the other themes will be Happiness, Cultural Creativity and Design, Beauty, and Orchid Cultivation, the COA said. A series of seminars, including the Taiwan International Orchid Symposium (TIOS), will also be part of he exhibition.

The annual show is aimed at promoting domestic and international technical exchanges in the cultivation of orchids and expanding export opportunities for Taiwan's orchid industry, the COA said.

Over the past years, the exhibition has attracted about 300,000 visitors per year, including some 3,000 foreign experts and buyers, according to COA statistics.

Source: Chen Cheng-wei and Lauren Hung, Focus Taiwan