Jasmine flowers pave way to prosperity for growers in Hengzhou, S China's Guangxi

A grower picks jasmine flowers at a garden in Hengzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Huang Rude)

Jasmine flowers are about to blossom at gardens in Hengzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, turning the gardens into a sea of white.

Jasmine gardens span 128,000 mu (8,533 hectares) in Hengzhou and the annual production of fresh jasmine flowers and jasmine tea in Hengzhou hits 100,000 tonnes and 80,000 tonnes, respectively.

A grower picks jasmine flowers at a garden in Hengzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Hengzhou municipal committee)

The jasmine flower industry in Hengzhou has helped 65,000 local residents, who were previously impoverished, increase their income, and helped 340,000 growers gain wealth.

Photo shows white jasmine flowers at a garden in Hengzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo courtesy of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Hengzhou municipal committee)

Hengzhou has cultivated more than 50 competitive jasmine tea brands and introduced many leading enterprises engaged in the deep processing of jasmine tea to try to bolster the local tea industry.

Aerial photo shows a jasmine garden in Hengzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (People's Daily Online/Fu Huazhou)

The city has built an e-commerce platform for trading jasmine flowers, and taken measures to promote the digitalized, orderly and fair development of the jasmine flower market. The Hengzhou Jasmine Flower Tea is a national geographical indication (GI) product with its comprehensive brand value exceeding 21.8 billion yuan ($314 million).

Photo shows small houses in a sea of jasmine flowers. The houses are built for growers to rest in and store freshly picked flowers. (People's Daily Online/Fu Huazhou)