Hainan Flower World Spring Festival Flower Market: Over 4,000 varieties of flowers and bonsai available for purchase

Spring arrives early in the South, and the Spring Festival flower market is bustling. Although there is still some time before next year's Spring Festival, poinsettias symbolizing prosperity and good fortune, and lucky bamboo symbolizing peace throughout the four seasons, have already become the focus of purchases by flower vendors at Hainan Flower World. On the morning of the 9th, a relevant person in charge of the organizing committee of the 15th Hainan Spring Festival Flower Market told reporters that during the Spring Festival flower market from January 20 to February 6 next year, Hainan Flower World will bring together more than 4,000 varieties of flowers and bonsai from home and abroad for consumers to choose from.

Local flowers and potted plants will account for up to 30%

It is understood that in previous years, most of the stock for the province's Spring Festival flower market came from Fangcun and Chencun in Guangdong. "At next year's 15th Hainan Spring Festival Flower Market, the proportion of local flowers and potted plants will reach a record-breaking level of about 30%." According to the person in charge of the organizer, Hainan Flower World, in the past, local flowers and potted plants at the flower market accounted for at most about 20%, and this year there has been a great increase.

According to reports, by the end of last year, Hainan Province had 640 flower enterprises, 9,510 flower-growing households, and nearly 50,000 employees, with sales output value of 1.65 billion yuan. According to the "Twelfth Five-Year" development plan of Hainan's flower industry, the expected goals of the "flower industry chain financial products" launched at this press conference are: the province's flower planting area reaching 200,000 mu, realizing an annual total industrial output value of 5 billion yuan, and reaching 120,000-150,000 employees. Hainan has a suitable climate and abundant land resources for flower production, and in transportation it has the unique advantages of mature shipping and aviation, giving it enormous potential for flower production and sales. However, the traditional flower industry has many restrictive factors, among which are three major problems: insufficient funds and technology, making it difficult to establish high-end brands with product quality; lack of the pull of new trading platforms, with self-production and self-sales reducing operating returns; and so on. "Our increased local procurement at this year's Spring Festival flower market is precisely to increase support for local industry."

It is understood that among the flowers and potted plants procured locally in Hainan for next year's Spring Festival flower market are green plants such as Ping'an trees, money trees, and lucky bamboo from Haikou, orchids from Sanya, and money trees from Ledong.

Assembled and sculpted floral potted plants become a new highlight

Fresh flowers can not only regulate mood and improve the environment, but also make interiors appear full of vitality. Various pots of New Year flowers are even more of a must-have item for every household during the Spring Festival. In the Letaotao Flower Shop inside Hainan Flower World Park, the reporter saw that the variety of flowers is very rich, and many potted plant designs are uniquely sculpted and delightful. Shop owner Sister Mi introduced that people's consumption habits have still changed, and this is also reflected in the varieties and shapes of floral potted plants, with each year having its own "popular color." This year, a certain proportion are combinations of several kinds of flowers and plants potted together. For example, succulents and flowering plants are combined in one pot, appearing casual yet highly artistic.

With the improvement of residents' living standards, household consumption is rising, and the Spring Festival flower market has maintained a stable momentum in recent years, with flower market prices also relatively stable. According to reports, at present the price of poinsettia is 10 to 20 yuan per pot, the price of Guzmania is 30 to 50 yuan per pot, the price of money tree is 100 to 150 yuan per pot, and the price of Ping'an tree and money tree is around 150 yuan per pot. "For high-end new products this year, we have stocked relatively fewer than before, and instead turned to new varieties with moderate prices." The merchant introduced that sales of potted plants such as Buddhist pine in the park are still acceptable, but potted plants that in previous years could easily sell for several thousand yuan are now not so many.

In recent years, Hainan Flower World has become a well-known viewing and trading platform for Hainan's famous flowers and bonsai, with annual sales exceeding 500 million yuan, and in 2012 it entered the ranks of national 3A-level tourist attractions.

Zhanjiang Spring Festival Flower Market will open: enjoy flowers and buy flowers, both are suitable. Tour the Flower Expo on February 8

Chinese bonsai master Wang Yongkang and appreciation of his bonsai

Chinese bonsai master Wang Yongkang and appreciation of his bonsai

The "Tang Style Exhibition," the highest honor in mainland bonsai competitions, had Wang Yongkang as director of the judging committee; the "Hua Feng Award," the highest award in Taiwan, China's bonsai circles, had Wang Yongkang as the first person from the mainland invited to serve as a judge; on the list of "International Bonsai Masters" named by BCI (Bonsai Clubs International), which has a sixty-year history, Chinese people are few and far between, and Wang Yongkang stands out prominently... An unremarkable man from Changzhou has achieved great fame through bonsai.

Wang Qihong, maker of the super-large purple clay pot king, photographed with "Pine and Crane Extending Years"

He has a "communication of life" with every tree
On a drizzly day, I walked into Suiyuan, located by the shore of Ge Lake in Wujin Development Zone. Entering the garden, misty rain brushed the islets, and in the faint haziness, water and stones reflected each other.
The garden has many kinds of flowers and trees. At first glance it seems to have no order, but on closer inspection, it takes nature as its principle, with method in its layout, by no means a wild thicket: tall trees are planted to shade the fierce sun, ancient or elegant tree forms and postures (such as gnarled pines and soft willows) are planted for appreciation, supplemented by the colors and fragrances of flowers, fruits, and leaves (such as osmanthus, red maple, kumquat, wintersweet, autumn chrysanthemum, and so on). Those emerald greens quietly set off the garden, while creeping grasses and vines add a wild woodland charm; lotus leaves and banana leaves in the rain, birds singing and cicadas chirping on the branches, make the whole garden full of lively interest.
When the two words "Suiyuan" are mentioned, some people may think of the rear garden of Yuan Mei in the Qing Dynasty. When Wang Yongkang named his garden, he knew nothing about this. He said that the reason he chose this name was, first, that he felt the garden he made advocated casualness and naturalness, and second, that he felt opportunities in the world must be sought "by fate."
Friends in Changzhou's bonsai circles all call this garden "the living business card of Changzhou bonsai." There are many bonsai enthusiasts in Changzhou, but very few can afford to build private bonsai gardens. In addition, Suiyuan is large and scenic, and Wang Yongkang is naturally hospitable, so many people stored their bonsai at Suiyuan. Over time, Suiyuan became the "museum" of Changzhou bonsai and the "clubhouse" of Changzhou bonsai enthusiasts.
Wang Yongkang tirelessly introduced each of his bonsai to the reporter - "Look at this one, without tens of millions of years of natural creation it would be impossible to have such a shape," "This is a typical literati posture, aloof and detached from the world," "This was originally a dead stump discarded by others; it took ten years to bring it back to life," "This one was bought for 200 yuan, and not long ago a Japanese guest said it was worth 1 million yuan"... What makes Wang Yongkang happiest is "bringing every dying withered tree back to life."
In front of his residence stands a tall American shore pine. This was given to China when Nixon visited China, and there were only about ten of them in total. By chance, Wang Yongkang transplanted it from where it was huddled in a corner to in front of his door, cared for it carefully, and now it has once again grown lush green branches.
Wang Yongkang says he "knows every one of his trees": several years ago, 4 beloved bonsai were stolen, and for this he offered a reward of 100,000 yuan for clues. Although many years have passed and the bonsai have not been found, whenever there is a large domestic bonsai exhibition, Wang Yongkang still goes to distribute the "reward notice."

To be so obsessed can indeed be considered an extraordinary person.
On South Street, young Wang Yongkang cultivated his first pot of winter jasmine
He still remembers that in the 1950s on South Street, from the turn at Qingyunfang, the first shop was a tinfoil shop, then came the Laotiantai tea shop, then a paint shop opened in a house rented by his father, Daguangming candy shop, Yida cloth shop, an old bookstore, World Book Company, Friendship Store, Wuyi Eyeglasses Shop...
"My father was from Linfen, Shanxi, and traveled a long way to Changzhou to work as a painter. My mother was from Hutang. The combined effect of the ruggedness of western people and the gentleness of Jiangnan people may be one reason for my dual personality." As a child, Wang Yongkang kicked shuttlecocks and did handicrafts on South Street with neighborhood girls, while also climbing trees and running wild with the boys of Qingyunfang, every bit the "king of the kids."
"Grow clustered plants into single-trunk plants, and grow single-trunk plants into clustered plants." This is what Wang Yongkang learned when he first came into contact with bonsai.
An early Nationalist military doctor lived in a Western-style courtyard not far from his home. The old gentleman tended bonsai all day without complaining of hardship. Young Wang Yongkang saw that the elderly man was frail and seemed to struggle when moving bonsai, so Wang Yongkang called the friends from Qingyunfang to help the old man whenever they had free time.
In the time he spent with the old man, Wang Yongkang was influenced by what he saw and heard, gradually came to like those uniquely shaped flowers and plants, and also gradually learned some basic cultivation and pruning skills. Wang Yongkang said that his bond with bonsai benefited from the old gentleman's influence and guidance at that time.
Every day Wang Yongkang watched the old gentleman plant flowers and grass, and could not resist trying it himself. Once, two soybeans he planted sprouted into two small seedlings, so he worried about them constantly and went to look every day, paying attention to their every change. Unfortunately, when his mother was hanging clothes, she accidentally let the bamboo pole slip, and the end of the pole broke one of the small seedlings. Wang Yongkang was so heartbroken over this that he cried loudly for quite a while.
It was also at that time that 15-year-old Wang Yongkang gained the first bonsai of his life. "That was a single-trunk winter jasmine. Later I treasured it for more than forty years, but a few years ago it unfortunately died when I was repotting it."
In 1968, Wang Yongkang was sent down to Liyang. By then, the flowers and bonsai at home were already quite numerous. Unexpectedly, his father, who had previously kept scolding him for "not doing proper work," actually began caring for the bonsai his son had left behind as if caring for his own son. Wang Yongkang said that was "the old father placing his longing for his son in the flower pots."
During 8 years of being sent to the countryside, Wang Yongkang did not forget bonsai. He often walked dozens of li on weekends during rest time to go into Wuyuan Mountain, discovering and collecting wood from the mountains, and when he found something he liked he would send it back to his home in Changzhou.
"Later there were more and more bonsai, and some friends liked them and asked me to give them some. At that time I was young, so I gave them away. I did not think much about it, and did not notice that my father's expression became worse each time, until I finally realized that bonsai had already become a part of my father's life."
From "Lüyang Flower Shop" to "Master of Suiyuan"
In 1976, Wang Yongkang ended his time as a sent-down youth and returned to the city, working successively at Dongfeng Printing and Dyeing Factory and Guomian No. 1 Factory. In 1984 he came to the No. 4 Pharmaceutical Factory as a gardener. What made Wang Yongkang different from other gardeners was that he did not follow the factory's work schedule. His reason was, "A gardener's working hours should be determined by the flowers, not by people. Watering and pruning in the middle of the night is not impossible."
In 1985, Wang Yongkang and a good friend from his time at Dongfang Printing and Dyeing Factory went to the mountains of Anhui to dig tree stumps for several months and transported them back to Changzhou. That year he made a lot of money, "and all at once became a ten-thousand-yuan household."
In 1988, Wang Yongkang formally went into business, renting 2 mu of land in Lihua and planting varieties such as carnations, Chinese roses, and baby's breath. Wang Yongkang, who did not have much experience in growing and selling flowers, went with old friend He Qingcheng to Guangzhou, then the flower market distribution center, in order to understand the market. "In that place where we were completely in the dark, a sister from Wuhan took us, total strangers, and guided us bit by bit, telling us the tricks of the trade."
Gradually, Wang Yongkang's "Lüyang Flowers" became one of the largest and most famous flower shops in Changzhou. The joint purchasing and group buying activities initiated by Lüyang Flowers directly influenced and controlled Shanghai's flower market. "For a period of time, we chartered flights from Kunming to Changzhou specifically to transport carnations and the like." Wang Yongkang remembers that when Lüyang Flowers was at its most popular, vehicles coming to the shop to pick up flowers often blocked Qingtan Road so tightly that not a drop could get through.
After decades of working with flowers, what actually interested Wang Yongkang most was still bonsai. In 1996, Wang Yongkang discovered many boxwood trees on Chongming Island, all more than a hundred years old, and was overjoyed. So he rode a motorcycle from village to village, asking door to door, and finally purchased 800 boxwood trees. "At the time they were bought as landscaping seedlings. The most expensive one cost about 600 yuan. If played with as bonsai now, the lowest price would be three to five hundred thousand yuan."
When talking about his understanding of bonsai, Wang Yongkang is somewhat different from others. He remembers that when he was a sent-down youth, a teacher once told him: "Do not saw this way and that, and end up sawing out a Zhu Bajie." For decades, Wang Yongkang has firmly believed this. He believes that bonsai is a kind of realm, guiding according to circumstances, and absolutely not something to be forced deliberately. Working with bonsai should be a kind of respect for the tree and for its life. Wang Yongkang has always been very opposed to the practice of giving bonsai names. If there is really no way around it, he only gives it a name like "Untitled." He says that a bonsai, in your eyes and in his eyes, because of different space, different time, and even because of the viewer's different moods and experiences, presents a different scene to everyone, and everyone's space for imagination is very large. Therefore, insisting on giving it a name to limit the viewer's imagination is really not a good idea.
"Making bonsai is about presenting its most beautiful side." Therefore, sometimes for the sake of "one point" on the trunk, he often has to wait three to five years, nurturing the other parts well before acting, to present the most beautiful side of the whole tree to the world. The black pine work "Longevity," which won the first-class gold award at the first China Tang Style Bonsai Exhibition, was born in this way.
After this black pine was dug down from the mountain, it was purchased by Wang Yongkang and cultivated until it survived. In order to develop the large cascading branch on the left, Wang Yongkang waited a full 3 years. Who could imagine that an ordinary piece of decaying mountain wood could, 4 years later, win its owner a medal made of 150 grams of 24K pure gold?
In 2002, when friends in Taiwan, China's bonsai circles had just entered the mainland to operate bonsai businesses, Wang Yongkang began doing bonsai business with them, thereby laying the foundation for his bonsai business. At present, the number of finished bonsai, semi-finished bonsai, and raw material trees in "Suiyuan" available for sale exceeds ten thousand, and there are nearly 20 professional bonsai maintenance workers.
"My happiest thing now is to wake up in the early morning and go inspect every tiny change on the bonsai." Wang Yongkang told the reporter cheerfully.
This article comes from: China Changzhou Network,
Original address: -09/07/content_1565575_2.htm

Below is CCTV's video [Popular Infinity] Chinese bonsai master Wang Yongkang

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Yixing Jiang Family Art Ceramics Factory. Yixing Pen Ge / Xiao Jiang and Suiyuan master Teacher Wang Yongkang take a group photo as a souvenir.