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Season's greetings: Luoyang begins its annual peony celebration

2021/4/19 10:29:10   source:CGTN

Large and plump, bright petals, peony flowers are in full bloom every spring from April to May in China.

At this time, Luoyang, a city in central China's Henan Province, an ancient city known for its long-standing peony civilization, begins its annual peony celebration.

The cultivation of peony originated in Luoyang area and it could date more than 1,900 years back. Symbolizing wealth, auspiciousness, happiness and prosperity, the peony is regarded as the top grade of garden ornamental flowers and the "King of Flowers."

The story of the peony and Luoyang have a lot to do with the geographical environment.

Peonies love cool weather and dislike heat. It is suitable for dryness and dislikes dampness, and can withstand low temperatures of -30 Celsius. It can grow normally in areas with an average annual relative humidity of about 45 percent.

And Luoyang area features many rivers, such as the Yellow River, Luohe River and Yihe River. Due to their common alluvial accumulation, the Luoyang Basin is formed. The soil of the basin is fertile and viscous, which is very beneficial to the growth of peonies that are relatively fond of drought and fear of waterlogging. Therefore, peonies in Luoyang are extraordinarily larger and more beautiful.

As the earliest peony cultivation places, Luoyang possessed systematic flower planting skills as early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279). Elements of peony can be often found in Chinese poems, paintings, calligraphy, legends and cuisines.

This year, even some of the traffic lights on the streets of Luoyang are seen to take the pattern of peonies. /CGTN

This year, even some of the traffic lights on the streets of Luoyang are in the shape of peonies.

To appreciate these beautiful flowers, the city holds the Peony Culture Festival of Luoyang China every year. In 2010, the cultural festival was selected as a national intangible cultural heritage list and upgraded to a national cultural event.

The 39th Peony Culture Festival of Luoyang China 2021 started from April 1 and will run through May 5.

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