Baihua Tu' (Hundreds of Flowers), a Chinese Ming Dynasty painting, was auctioned at a price of 22,000,000 Yuan (over US$ 270,000,000) on Sunday in Beijing.

　　The painting is by Zhou Zhimian, a famed artist of the Ming Dynasty. With a length of over 17 meters, it is the largest known painting by Zhou.

　　Over 70 different kinds of flowers are portrayed in the painting including clubs, magnolia, peach flower and pear flower. Each kind is unique in its feature, color and flavor in the painting.

　　The painting was once the housed in a collection in the Forbidden City in the Qing dynasty; later the last emperor took it out after the Qing government collapsed.