Western plant exploited by Chinese around city (6)

I believe the answer is:

weimar

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'city' is the definition.
(I know that Weimar is a city)

I don't understand the rest of the clue.

(Other definitions for weimar that I've seen before include "German town giving its name to 1919-33 republic" , "German republic until 1933" , "German town associated with Goethe, Liszt and Schiller" , "13 [THIRD REICH] 's predecessor" , "German city associated with Liszt and Goethe" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times and The Sunday Times.

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