Here comes the annual plum blossom viewing season. The 26th Kunming Plum Blossom Festival "Discovering Plum Blossoms in Longquan" kicked off on December 23. Hundreds of tourists flocked to Heilongtan Park, took out their phones and cameras to capture the beautiful plum blossoms on a rainy day.

Plum blossom originated from China and is a famous Chinese traditional flower. With glamorous beauty and light fragrance, plum blossoms have been favored by scholars and writers since ancient times. Heilongtan Park is the best place to view plum blossoms in Kunming and the largest plum blossom garden in Southwest China. The park covers an area of 530 mu (1 hectare equals 15 mu), with over 140 varieties of plum blossoms and 10 thousand plum blossom trees.

Yunnan's unique climate and topographic conditions are conducive to the growth of plum blossom trees. There are especially a great many over 200-year-old ancient plum blossoms in Yunnan. After a deep investigation, a national plum blossom panel concluded that Yunnan has the oldest plum blossom trees with the best quality and the largest number nationwide.

That "Discovering Plum Blossoms in Longquan" was listed as Yunnan's intangible cultural heritage shows Yunnan's abundant plum blossom resources and a long history of plum blossom culture. There is an ancient stone tablet in Longquan temple of Heilongtan Park, inscribed with characters saying the plantation of plum blossoms derived from the Tang Dynasty. The custom of viewing plum blossoms in Heilongtan Park during wintertime every year has become a tradition for thousands of years. And Ancient plum blossoms in Longquan also became one of eight scenes of Kunming.

To inherit the custom of "Discovering Plum Blossoms in Longquan," Kunming Plum Blossom Festival had been held in Heilongtan Park since 1995. While North China is covered by white snow, Heilongtan Park in Kunming is still blooming with flowers. "Discovering Plum Blossoms in Longquan" has become an important city card of China's Spring city.

According to Heilongtan Park, the wintersweet in the park is in full bloom with a refreshing fragrance. The plum blossom varieties like Gongfen, Yudie can be enjoyed in the early flowering period at present.

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(Editors: Ines, Lexi)