FUZHOU, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tropical storm Bopha, the ninth to hit China this year, is approaching China and may make landfall in Fujian Province, according to local meteorological sources.

    Bopha intensified into a strong tropical storm at 8 a.m. Monday morning. At that point it was located at latitude 22.5 north and longitude 129.0 east, 850 kilometers from Taiwan's Taidong County. It was gusting at 90 kilometers per hour and still gathering momentum.

    The tropical storm, whose Cambodian name means a flower, is churning westward at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour.

    Some 1,000 kilometers away, the eighth tropical storm Saomai is at latitude 17.9 north and longitude 139.5 and heading northwestward to China at 20 kilometers per hour, while the seventh tropical storm Maria is moving toward southern Japanese sea areas. Prapiroon is the sixth tropical storm that hit China and is weakening.

    Because they are influencing each other, the routes of Bopha and Maria will be complex, said experts with the Fujian meteorological observatory.

    Bopha will start lashing the sea east of Taiwan on Monday evening and will then bring heavy rains or rainstorms to Fujian. The local government has warned people to stay on the alert.

    The national tropical cyclone standard issued on May 9 has six categories of storm weather -- tropical depression, tropical storm, strong tropical storm, typhoon, strong typhoon and super typhoon -- based on critical central wind speed. A tropical depression hasa critical wind speed of around 62 kilometers per hour, but this figure increases to 183 kilometers per hour for a super typhoon. Enditem