When spring arrives, season of fragrance China' s spring blossoms attract visitors, boost

Rural Tourism

AS spring of northern hemisphere comes, fluxes of visitors and tourists in city parks, scenic spots and rural villages have been seen enjoying their weekends. Not only many Chinese famous scenic spots have introduced their own special routes, but residents from across the country also spontaneously planned their own blossom-tourism routes and posted them on social media.

Feel the moment

Related hashtags for blossom season have topped the China’s popular platform Little Red Book with more than 1.2 billion views.

Netizens shared their own spring flower viewing routes in Beijing, and received tens of thousands of likes for that. “We heard from our friends in Beijing that the peach blossoms in Yuyuantan Park are the most beautiful. We can’t believe that it is so amazing and beautiful here,” said Niki and Abby, two international students in Beijing.

While enjoying the beautiful flowers, the city’s major parks and scenic areas have also launched a series of traditional cultural activities. The Temple of Heaven will hold 12 spring-themed events from March to April. In mid-April, Jingshan Park will host the Jingshan Peony Culture and Art Festival. In addition, the Plum Blossom Cultural Festival will be held in the Beijing Ming City Wall Ruins Park, Yuetan Park and Wanshou Park.

More than flowers

As March generally marks the booming flowering season in China, the influx of tourist crowds is also an opportunity for the rural villagers to strengthen their businesses as well. In Wuyuan, East China’s Jiangxi Province, rapeseed terrace fields in the Huangling area are now in their peak blooming period, with the picturesque landscape has been attracting tourists from all over the country.

A couple from Anyang, Central China’s Henan Province, told that next week they are planning a 10-hour road trip of more than 1,000 kilometers to get to Wuyuan only for the rapeseed flowers.

This place has been known for its rich variety of flowers, a Wuyuan local named Zou Chenzhi said. Since February, people can appreciate plum blossoms in full bloom, followed by rapeseed flowers, peach blossoms and pear blossoms in March, and cherry blossoms and azaleas in

Chinesestory

Silk Road culture shines in mountainous area of northwest China

CHENG Yaodong, a part-time tourist guide, has told hundreds of tourists about the history and folklore of Xiaoguan Pass in Liupanshan Mountain, northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. “Xiaoguan Pass is an important stop on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in the Guyuan region of southern Ningxia,” said Cheng.

The Silk Road had been a vital corridor connecting the East and West since the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) about 2,000 years ago.

Cheng, 50, is a staff member of Ningxia Liupanshan Tourism Group Co., Ltd. in Guyuan, one of the cities that witnessed the history of the Silk Road. Liupanshan Tourism Group is a government-run tourism company promoting local life in southern Ningxia to tourists by tapping the Silk Road culture. It arranges tours for over 1 million visitors each year. “Tourism helps people better understand Guyuan’s role in the history of the Silk Road and the rich culture it has developed over some 2,000 years of interaction with ethnic groups and foreign merchants,” said Cheng.

About 55 km north of Guyuan City lies another Silk Road tourist attraction, the Xumishan Grottoes. It draws hundreds of visitors weekly, although still under restoration. “The grottoes, known by many as ‘the Pearls of the Silk Road,’ contain a whole set of cultural heritage, including Buddhist sculptures, murals, temple buildings, ancient trees, Danxia landform, and strange stones,” said Wang Xi, head of the cultural relics management bureau of Xumishan Grottoes. “By popularizing the ancient Silk Road culture, we have promoted local tourism and boosted the economy,” Wang said. XINHUA

April and May.

Statistics from Mafengwo, a travel service and social networking site, indicated that from Mar 9 to Mar 16, the popularity of flower-themed sightseeing tours has increased by 133 percent.

In Yinghualing village, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, the village has created their own cherry blossom festival to boost their tourism business. “Our village started the cherry blossom festival as early as in 2019, and since then we’ve witnessed thousands of tourists heading to the village during the weekends and on holidays in the blossoming season every year,” villager Zheng Daolin noted.

GLOBAL TIMES/ PEOPLE’S DAILY

Strawberry, Midi......outdoor music festivals ready to rock again

SINCE China optimized its COVID-19 policies at the end of last year, a number of organizers have announced the return of outdoor music festivals, with lineups being booked, dates set, and tickets already selling out.

The Midi Music Festival will hold in Evergreen Park, Haikou, Hainan province, from March 1719. Featuring more than 40 artists and bands, the festival includes rock singer-songwriter Xu Wei, rock band Tang Dynasty and young groups who rose to fame in recent years, such as Jiulian Zhenren and Hyper Slash. Shan Wei, the festival’s director, said: “It will be the first Midi Music Festival of 2023, and we will tour from south to north, as the weather is already warm in the south.” Shan estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 people will attend the festival each day.

Modern Sky, one of China’s largest indie record companies, has announced the schedule for its

2023 Strawberry Music Festival, which will make its first stop in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, on March 25 and 26. One of the nation’s largest outdoor music events, the festival was launched

Cultural corner

Schools plant herbs on campus to promote traditional Chinese medicine by Modern Sky in Beijing in 2010. It will be staged in about 10 cities during the first half of this year. In addition to Wuhan, the event will visit Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, Chengdu, the Sichuan provincial capital, and Funing, Jiangsu province.

AN herb farm has just been opened at Chaotiangong Minzu Primary School in Nanjing, Jiangsu. More than 30 species were planted on campus, including creeping rockfoil, oregano, Chinese ground orchid and rosemary. Students there are being guided by pharmacists from a provincial traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospital, who teach them to recognize the different herbs, learn plant development and medicinal value, make herb sachets, and plant sprouts in the garden. The hospital also donated over 100 cartoon books related to TCM to help the children develop a stronger interest in herbal medicine.

In addition to cultivating herbs in its campus garden, Xinhongxing Primary School in Shanghai has introduced TCM courses for students of all grades. These cover a basic knowledge of herbs, herb planting and sketching, and cooking with herbs. The courses give students more of an in-depth understanding of TCM, instilling into their minds a sense of pride in Chinese traditions and the country’s rich culture, said the principal of the school.

In addition to outdoor music festivals, large-scale concerts will be staged nationwide this year, led by artists such as pop icon Jay Chou, pop-rock band Mayday, and pop stars Li Yuchun, Zhang Jie and Xue Zhiqian. Last month, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China announced the resumption of approval for artists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan applying to perform on the Chinese mainland. CHINA

Also in Shanghai, Tongji University has created an opportunity for overseas students to plant various species of herbs including Chinese angelica, wolfberry, fish mint and dangshen, which are all widely used in Chinese cuisine. By taking care of the plants on a rotational basis, overseas students can gain firsthand experience of making herbal medicine from start to finish, and spread TCMculture totheir owncountries. CGTN

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