The central Chinese province of Hunan has been helping send fresh flowers from Kenya to customers all over China and even to Uzbekistan as the country keeps rolling out favorable trade policies for African countries and steadily increasing import from the continent.
Hunan, as one of China's most active provinces in Sino-African trade, is capable of importing flowers from Nairobi within just about 17 hours.
The flowers in the store of Huang Zinan, a Chinese Kenyan flower dealer, maintained original fresh appearance even after traveling as far as 7,000 kilometers.
"Since last year we have been selling about 100,000 flowers monthly, mostly to 15 first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen," she said.
China completed its first entrepot trade for African flowers in July after 400 fresh roses from Kenya were sent to Uzbekistan from a comprehensive bonded area in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province.
"We can sell them to a third country or countries along the Belt and Road. By increasing trade, we can help create jobs for local farmers and the production of flowers will definitely grow as well," said Huang.
By late June, China has applied zero-tariff to 98 percent of taxable goods from 27 least developed countries in Africa. It also established "green lanes" for African agricultural exports to China and signed 22 protocols regarding the export of agricultural products to China with 14 African countries.
Currently, high-quality characteristic African products like aquatic products, honey, peanuts, soybeans, coffee, and fruit have been imported into Chinese market in a steady flow.
Hunan facilitates Kenyan flowers trade within China, internationally
China's ice and snow tourism has experienced booming growth during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush which just concluded on Saturday.
Data from Tongcheng Travel, an online travel service provider, shows that hotel bookings surged by over 40 percent year on year in many popular winter tourism destinations in northern China, including Altay and Yili in northwest China's Xinjiang, Qitaihe in northeast China's Heilongjiang and Xilingol League in north China's Inner Mongolia.
The ice and snow fervor fueled by the Asian Winter Games, which were held in the "Ice City" of Harbin from February 7 to 14, has spurred economic growth and boosted tourism in the city and surrounding areas. As a result, domestic flight bookings for Harbin increased by over 20 percent year on year. Hotel bookings in the city rose by about 60 percent compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the total number of inbound tourists has seen a year-on-year increase of over 144 percent.
In addition to the northern regions which are traditionally winter tourist destinations, many places in the south are also seeing growing popularity for winter activities. The search volumes of ice and snow-related consumption more than doubled in places like Shanghai, Zhejiang and Guangdong, according to data from Tongcheng Travel.
"The number of tourists had increased about 30 percent during the Spring Festival, compared to the same period last year," said Zhou Daochun, an employee of a ski resort in Zhejiang Province.
China's railway system had taken measures to deal with the ice and snow travel boom during this year’s Spring Festival travel rush with additional trains being operated between popular winter tourism destinations.
Meanwhile, local railway systems also cooperated with transportation authorities to open special trains that could carry tourists to experience winter sports and events, achieving seamless transfer among railway stations, bus stops and ski resorts.
In response to the surge in tourists heading to have fun with ice and snow in Shangri-La of southwest China's Yunnan province, local railway authorities operated special tourist trains that stopped in popular cities within the province, including Xishuangbanna, Kunming, and Dali. The trains then continued to Lijiang, where tourists could board a high-speed train that would take them directly to Shangri-La.
Xiamen in east China's Fujian opened an ice and snow-themed train to Harbin for the first time. The local railway station also launched tailored services for certain tourists to ensure their safe and smooth travel.
"We set up a designated area for tourist groups in the railway station's waiting area and assigned special personnel to help senior tourists, providing warm and secure services to ensure their comfort and safety," said Wu Zhenbin, staff working at the Xiamen North Railway Station.
China sees booming winter tourism during Spring Festival travel rush