Tian Jianhua, one of China's top 10 seedling brokers, attributes his success to his sincerity and honesty in doing business. His company generates more than 100 million yuan ($15.42 million) in annual sales.

The 57-year-old man is chairman of Rugao's association of the flower and tree industry and has been running a seedling plantation in the Rugao World of Plantings, an iconic local planting market, for years.

He even received an extra 300,000 yuan as an award when undertaking a green landscape project in Yancheng last year, due to the unexpected high survival rate of his plants.

"The approval of clients is worth far more than the money," said Tian.

In a recent project he completed in Yangzhou, he not only dispatched technicians to take care of plants for clients for the next three years, but also plans to inspect their works in person every month.

These efforts are meant to ensure a more-than 90 percent survival rate, but will cost him an extra 400,000 yuan. But for Tian, keeping his promise to clients is the most important thing.

"Chairman Tian has set a positive example as a sincere and honest businessman for us," said Xu Guangliang, owner of another plant business in the market.

Xu said he has been working to become a businessman like Tian since he started his career there in 2017.

But it doesn't stop at Tian and Xu. Sincerity and honesty have been a tradition for all of the more than 400 businesses in the market.

Thanks to its good reputation, the market's turnover reached 19.67 billion yuan in 2020, despite the impact by the COVID-19 outbreak.