Flower market in SW China's Yunnan gears up for Spring Festival

A tourist buys flowers at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 10, 2026. As the Spring Festival approaches, the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, dubbed the "flower capital of Asia," is gradually heating up. (Xinhua/Peng Yikai)

As the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, approaches, the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, is buzzing with activity. A dazzling array of flowers fills the stalls as customers ask about prices and vendors busily wrap bouquets, all amid a lingering floral fragrance.

Each year around the Spring Equinox, or "Chunfen" in Chinese, the fourth solar term of the Chinese lunar calendar, peonies from Heze in east China's Shandong Province are transported to Yunnan, where they are distributed to markets across the country. In addition to Shandong, flowers from more than 10 other provinces, including Hebei, Sichuan and Shaanxi, are shipped to Yunnan for sale.

Why are flowers from all over China shipped to Yunnan for sale?

The Kunming International Flora Auction Trading Center handles 65 major categories and more than 4,000 varieties, serving buyers nationwide and throughout Southeast Asia.

Take Shandong peonies, for example. Once they enter the auction center, prices are negotiated stem by stem in a competitive market. A single stem can sell for over 10 yuan ($1.45), sometimes exceeding 20 yuan. Higher prices and faster turnover encourage growers to ship their flowers here.

In 2023, the center launched a dedicated peony trading channel. Now, over 6 million peonies from Heze are sold here annually.

In 2025, Dounan's flower industry traded 15.48 billion stems of fresh-cut flowers, generating 13.48 billion yuan in sales. It has remained China's largest flower trading hub for more than 20 consecutive years.

People buy flowers at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 10, 2026. As the Spring Festival approaches, the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, dubbed the "flower capital of Asia," is gradually heating up. (Xinhua/Peng Yikai)

The center has also built a database for fresh-cut flower trading and extended its services along the supply chain. Leveraging big data, it supports government policymaking and market expansion while helping growers track trends and plan production more efficiently.

Ahead of the Spring Festival, Dounan's daily flower supply exceeds 6 million stems, with peak days approaching 7 million.

"Business is booming," said Zhang Yihao, head of Yunshe Flowers. To meet demand, the company has expanded its workforce from 1,200 to over 4,000, operates warehouses around the clock, and can deliver flowers to most parts of China within 48 hours.

At the Modern Flower Industry Demonstration Park of Yuntianhua Huajiangpu Technology Co., Ltd. in Jinning, Kunming, smart greenhouses, integrated irrigation and fertilization systems, soilless cultivation, and digital management are transforming traditional growing methods.

To meet Spring Festival demand, the park has built 1,450 mu (96.67 hectares) of smart greenhouses and introduced automated soilless cultivation and a water-fertilizer circulation system that delivers nutrients on demand. Combined with 10 proprietary fertilizers, this approach significantly cuts the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The park produces around 500,000 stems of fresh-cut flowers daily, easily meeting the pre-holiday peak.

The automated soilless system not only saves water and fertilizer but also triples per-mu yields compared with traditional methods.

"In the past, growers considered 50,000 to 60,000 stems per mu a good harvest. Now we can reach 150,000 to 160,000 stems, and the share of high-grade flowers has risen from under 10 percent to over 60 percent," said Zhu Zhen, assistant to the general manager of Yuntianhua Huajiangpu Technology Co., Ltd.

People buy flowers at Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 10, 2026. As the Spring Festival approaches, the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, dubbed the "flower capital of Asia," is gradually heating up. (Xinhua/Peng Yikai)

Cai Yanfei, a researcher at the Flower Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, never expected a public naming campaign for new Chinese rose varieties to attract so much attention.

The newly bred Chinese rose series includes 10 varieties, with more than 1,000 others still awaiting official names. To solicit public input, Cai and her team took the naming campaign online. One netizen proposed naming a new rose after his uncle, Liu Baohua, joking that "he's as beautiful as a flower." The suggestion quickly surged to the top of the poll.

Every seed undergoes a painstaking selection process. From breeding to market-ready flower, the cycle takes three to five years.

In the first year, hybrid seeds are created through hand pollination. In the second year, 95 percent of seedlings are discarded for mediocre traits. When plants bloom, at least 80 percent are further eliminated based on flower color and form. In the third year, large-scale trials test disease resistance, stability, and vase life. In the end, only one or two in 1,000 varieties make it to market.

"The hardest part of breeding isn't just developing new varieties — it's bringing them to market," Cai explained. The internet helps promising varieties reach consumers and growers more quickly, which is why the team opened the rose-naming process to online participants.