Flowers are selling well in many markets across China as people are preparing for the celebration of the upcoming New Year's Day and Spring Festival.
In Taiyuan City of north China's Shanxi Province, local flower markets have seen a peak season with flowers symbolizing good fortune and happiness, such as moth orchids, cyclamens and azaleas, popular among consumers.
"The New Year is coming, and I like flowers carrying auspicious and good connotations. As the saying goes, 'the purple air comes from the east,' which is a propitious omen. They will also add colors to our home," said Ma Xiangyun, a consumer.
In Tianshui City of northwest China's Gansu Province, consumers can choose flowers directly in greenhouses at a floral industrial park, where more than 70 varieties of orchids have come into full blossom.
"Moth orchids are perfect and elegant. I'd like to buy some to gift them to my relatives and friends," said Guo Li, a consumer.
The industrial park provides both online and offline purchasing options for consumers to select fresh flowers and even create customized flower arrangements.
The growing demand of flowers ahead of the New Year has also brought a price hike at the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming City of southwest China's Yunnan.
"The price of flowers has been on the rise over the past month, especially for the red and pink varieties. The average price for a red flower is about 2.2 to 2.3 yuan (around 30.14 to 31.51 U.S. cents). Those of higher quality are priced at 2.7 to 2.8 yuan or even more than 3 yuan each," said Li Chen, an auctioneer from Kunming Dounan Agricultural Products Auction Co., Ltd.
Flower markets boom in China ahead of New Year
The frequent group visits led by Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, to the mainland have contributed to fostering a warmer atmosphere in cross-Strait relations.
Ma led a group of youth from Taiwan visited Heilongjiang Province in the northwest and Sichuan Province in the southwest from December 18 to 26, marking his third group visit to the mainland in the past two years.
Ahead of the visit, a 94-year-old Anti-Japanese War veteran wrote a sincere letter after learning that Ma would visit the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese aggressor troops.
In the message, Wang Jitang, the veteran, expressed his support for Ma's commitment to the "1992 Consensus" and the advancement of peaceful cross-Strait relations.
"As a veteran of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the history I personally experienced is also a shared pain and struggle for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of a same family. We are like relatives. I hope that young friends in Taiwan, like Ma, will treat the mainland as their own home, visit often as if visiting relatives, and frequently engage with each other," Wang said.
Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of the Taiwan-based Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, said he was deeply moved by Wang's sincere wish.
"History must never be forgotten. Through such on-site visits and study, we need to experience and appreciate how our forefathers sacrificed themselves to protect our homeland and defend our country," Hsiao said. When talking about the purpose of the current group visit, Ma emphasized the crucial importance of mutual exchanges between young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He expressed the hope to build a bridge for peace between the two sides which transcends political challenges, and which conveys the shared desire of the people on both sides for communication.
Many people from the both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that the more tense cross-Strait relations become, the more vital it is to sustain exchanges.
Ma Ying-jeou's frequent group visits to mainland enhance warmth in cross-Strait relations
