චීන වැලන්ටයින් එක නිසා උඩයන රෝස අලෙවිය
Chinese Valentine's Day fuels demand for Yunnan roses
As the Qixi Festival, also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day, is just around the corner, demand for fresh-cut roses in Yao'an County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, is soaring, with daily shipments exceeding one million stems to the Dounan Flower Market, Asia's biggest flower trading market in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province.
The Qixi Festival, originating from a 2,000-year-old legend of two lovers, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar. The festival falls on Aug. 10 this year.
The two lovers Niulang and Zhinyu, one a cowherd and the other a weaver fairy, were separated by the Silver River (the Milky Way), as their love was not allowed by the gods. They could only reunite once a year when a flock of magpies formed a bridge across the river.
The festival has been an important day for young girls in China for hundreds of years. Since Zhinyu is a character of intelligence and ingenuity, girls often go to temples to pray to the fairy for wisdom and dexterity in needlework, a traditional skill for a good wife, as well as a happy marriage.
The festival is now a celebration of love and romance, with couples expressing affection through gifts, including roses.
Qixi Festival was listed as a state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2006.
In Yao'an County, workers at a rose cultivation and processing company are busy harvesting, sorting, and packaging roses. Since the end of July, demand has been on the rise and consistently outstripped supply.
"Since July 17, the demand for roses has surged. Recently, we have been shipping more than 100,000 fresh roses daily to the Dounan Flower Market, with an average daily output value of around 120,000 yuan (about 17,000 U.S. dollars)," said Xue Shan, sales manager of the flower company.
Light-colored rose varieties are particularly popular this Qixi Festival, according to the company's manager.
"The rose varieties I'm holding, Pink Snow Mountain and White Snow Mountain roses, are among this year's bestsellers. Their prices have exceeded 2 yuan per stem, and the demand far exceeds our supply," said Wang Pengcheng, production base manager of the flower company.
Currently, Yao'an County has 1,320 hectares of high-quality flower cultivation area, with an annual production of over 500 million fresh-cut flowers. The total output value of the flower industry stands at 1.5 billion yuan (over 209 million U.S. dollars).
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