Authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crab Wang Yuting / for China Daily

Classical gardens have long been attracting visitors to Suzhou. Yet the city is also famous for a different delicate beauty - Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs.

In fact the Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs Association of Suzhou was established in 2002 to ensure production and sales are supervised to form a brand effect in the market.

About 2,000 tons of the delicacies are harvested each year.

Crabs reach maturity in autumn, with the lake's hairy crabs the first choice of gourmets. As a result, Suzhou restaurants and hotels are crowded with guests from the Yangtze River Delta - including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing - as well as Beijing and northeastern cities. Large quantities are sent by air to other large cities on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as Southeast Asia.

From September to December this year, the MICE Association and Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs Association of Suzhou are jointly holding the first International Business Culture Festival of Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs.

Among the activities held during the festival will be events called "Publicizing Suzhou with Crabs", "Spreading Culture with Crabs", "Meeting Friends by Eating Crabs" and "Doing Business by Selling Crabs".

Business figures from various circles at home and abroad, enterprise CEOs, government officials and leaders of business associations have been invited to gather in Suzhou.

With almost 80 cultural activities, the festival will provide guests with a feast of both crabmeat and culture.

A news conference for the Hairy Crabs Business Culture Festival will be held on Sept 11 in Beijing, followed by "The Best Crab Banquet of Our Capital".

It is the first time authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs will be officially promoted outside Suzhou.