Yunnan's flowers spread fragrance to global markets
Xinhua Updated: Mar 21, 2025
At the foot of the Yulong Snow Mountain in Southwest China's Yunnan province, 100,000 Black Baccara roses recently began their journey from an airport in the city of Lijiang.
In no more than 36 hours, these blooms, infused with the mountain's crisp air, would adorn high-end florists in Tokyo's Ginza district.
This is just one chapter in the story of Lijiang's flourishing flower industry, which has become a new engine for rural revitalization in the ancient city. Known globally for its tourism, Lijiang is now making a name for itself as an export hub for high-quality flowers.
The floral journey began in 2014 when farmers in Qihe township in the city's Gucheng district first experimented with flower cultivation. Early challenges, including poorly constructed greenhouses and limited expertise, caused setbacks, but a 2017 provincial initiative revitalized the industry.
By 2018, an investment of 1.2 billion yuan (about $167 million) led to the establishment of a modern flower industrial park, equipped with international seed varieties, smart greenhouses and air logistics, marking a pivotal shift for the industry.
Located in Gucheng district, the industrial park, now spanning 350,000 square meters, produces 40.46 million fresh-cut flowers annually, generating an output value of 51.5 million yuan.
With conditions akin to renowned flower powerhouses like Ecuador and Colombia, the region is perfectly suited for flower cultivation, boasting an average altitude of 2,400 meters, 2,500 hours of annual sunshine, and a daily temperature variation of 15 degrees Celsius, explained Zhang Lihui, deputy manager of the industrial park.
"Our roses are renowned for their large buds, vibrant colors, and long vase life," said Yang Jia, the park's technical director.
The park employs cutting-edge technology, including smart greenhouses with real-time environmental controls and precision irrigation systems. These innovations ensure a 90 percent success rate for fresh-cut flowers, transforming traditional farming into a high-tech, standardized industry.
As Lijiang's largest flower cultivation base, the industrial park has become a driving force behind the city's floral economy. In 2024 alone, Gucheng district, the heart of Lijiang's flower industry, exported 3.62 million fresh-cut flowers, generating 8.33 million yuan in sales, and the output value of the whole industrial chain reached 328 million yuan.
The industry has created 1,500 jobs, boosting the annual incomes of local residents by more than 30,000 yuan on average.
Lijiang's success is part of Yunnan's broader dominance in the global flower market. In 2024, Yunnan exported 760 million yuan worth of fresh-cut flowers, a 34.2 percent year-on-year increase, with Thailand, Japan, and Singapore as key markets, according to Kunming customs.
Yunnan's fresh-cut flower export value has ranked first in China for six consecutive years, and the province is home to Asia's largest fresh-cut flower market, the Dounan Flower Market, which sells 11 billion stems annually.
By the end of 2024, with 1.95 million mu (130,000 hectares) of flower cultivation, including 350,000 mu for fresh-cut flowers, the province produced 20.6 billion fresh-cut flowers last year, ranking first in the world. Around one-third of the world's commercial ornamental flowers come from Yunnan.
The province has 380,000 people directly employed in flower-related industries, including cultivation, sorting and packaging, logistics, and e-commerce.
Platforms like HUAEB, an online flower trading platform, have further revolutionized the industry. With nearly 700,000 registered users, the platform handles a transaction every five seconds during peak hours. In 2024, the company launched HUAEB Global, the international version of its platform, expanding Yunnan's supply chain to overseas markets.
"Yunnan's romance is now reaching the world," said Zhao Yongneng, the platform's founder. From Singapore to Japan and Russia, Yunnan's flowers are spreading their fragrance across 50 countries and regions.
"We expect to bring Yunnan's floral charm to the world," Zhao added.
