18/04/2025

FRIDAY | APR 18, 2025

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Malaysian Paper

@thesundaily @t

A S spring unfolds, Taiwan’s largest field of pristine white calla lilies comes into full bloom in Yangmingshan Bamboo Lake, marking the start of the Bamboo Lake Calla Lily Festival 2025. This floral event spans 100 days, with calla lilies and hydrangeas blooming in succession, making it a highlight of the year in Bamboo Lake. From March to April, the fields are draped in a dreamy sea of white calla lilies, followed by vibrant hydrangeas from May to June, creating a breathtaking spectacle for flower lovers and spring-summer travellers alike. Bamboo Lake’s Calla Lily Festival has been a signature event for over 20 years, with the Hydrangea Festival now celebrating its 13th year. This year, the festival embraces the theme “A World of Imagination”, inviting visitors to step into a breathtaking floral wonderland meticulously designed by local farmers. Through creative landscape artistry, the event transforms nature into a mesmerising spectacle, offering an immersive and unforgettable experience. During the festival, visitors can fully embrace Bamboo Lake’s distinctive “Flower Viewing, Creek Exploration, Cultural Walks and Outdoor Feasts” experience. Strolling through picturesque flower fields, joining guided ecological tours and participating in hands-on DIY craft workshops provide an up-close connection to nature. Food lovers can savour locally sourced mountain delicacies and delightful afternoon tea, ensuring a well-rounded sensory journey that makes this festival a must-visit seasonal highlight. Feature highlights This year’s festival showcases two standout floral installations: Tree Frog Dream House, a whimsical creation that incorporates charming tree frog elements into its design, adding a playful and imaginative touch – and Wheel of Love, a

Tree Frog Dream House (left) and Wheel of Love. – PIC FROM TAIPEITRAVELNET

Floral getaway for photo enthusiasts romantic centrepiece designed as the backdrop for couples to capture picture-perfect moments in an enchanting, dreamlike setting.

family or a loved one, visitors can embrace the beauty of these artistic displays while creating cherished memories in the breathtaking floral wonderland. As flowering seasons are influenced by weather and other natural factors, visitors are encouraged to plan their trip accordingly to enjoy a serene and immersive experience in nature.

Both installations not only embody the festival’s theme but also blend the symbolic meanings of the featured blooms. Calla lilies represent purity and sincere love, and hydrangeas symbolise family, unity and togetherness. Whether visiting with

o Bamboo Lake Calla Lily Festival 2025 provides plenty of Instagram-worthy backdrops

Blooming ‘flower economy’ THE Heze Peony International Communication Forum in Heze City, East China’s Shandong Province, shed light how the peony industry drives the local development and promotes cultural exchanges, highlighting the Heze Peony Festival’s important role in enhancing friendship, and strengthening cooperation and cultural exchanges. In 2000, China Agricultural University graduate Li Xiaoqi Conference and the 34th Heze International Peony Cultural Tourism Festival, collectively referred to as the 2025 Heze Peony Festival, officially kicked off last week. Featuring four sub-forums and 29 activities, the festival will last one month. Blooming flower economy As the world’s largest peony planting and scientific research and processing base, in recent years, Heze has continued to tap the advantages of peonies in areas such as variety cultivation, industrial expansion and cultural and tourism integration.

The 2025 Heze Peony Festival has started last week.

returned to his hometown in Heze, Shandong Province, and began working in the peony industry. Through years of dedication, he expanded his family’s small peony field into a larger modern industrial park with facilities for seedling cultivation, flower processing, cold storage and research. Beyond growing his own business, Li trained and supported hundreds of local farmers in peony cultivation, playing a key role in poverty alleviation and boosting the region’s peony industry. The thriving peony industry has enabled Heze, the peony capital of China, to foster four major development sectors focusing on seedling breeding, flower cultivation, deep processing and cultural tourism. The 2025 World Peony

The city has currently cultivated nine colour systems, 10 flower shapes and 1,308 varieties, with its planting area and number of varieties ranking first globally. Besides the peony, Heze has developed the cultivation of other flowers such as herbaceous peony, rose and gerbera jamesonii. Last year, the city’s sales of fresh-cut herbaceous peonies reached 120 million pieces, which were exported to more than 20 countries and regions in the world. For industrial development, Heze has built a complete industrial chain from planting and processing to tourism and cultural creativity. Having more than 120 peony production and processing

Promoting cultural exchanges On Wednesday and Thursday, the Heze Peony International Communication Forum was held. A series of activities, such as the digital interpretation of paintings that converts static paintings into dynamic images and digital images of peonies generated by ChatGPT, have injected new impetus into the international dissemination of peony culture through technological empowerment. In recent years, Heze has deeply explored the values of peonies and

actively created a friendly cultural symbol for global communication. The city has established overseas sub-venues of the Peony Festival in countries such as the Netherlands, Japan and South Korea. It has also set up peony culture communication stations in Brazil, Malaysia, Romania and other countries, and held award events related to the flower to introduce them to more than 50 Belt and Road partner countries, offering an intriguing window into the popular perception of peony culture.

enterprises and 20 scientific research institutions, the city has developed over 260 peony-derived products – ranging from seed oil, cosmetics and cultural products. Last year, the total output value of the peony industry reached 13 billion yuan (RM7.83 billion). As Heze’s most beautiful business card, peony has become a powerful engine for the high-quality development of cultural tourism, said Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism head Yu Jiannan.