Flower festival heralds Changsha spring

Changsha, capital of Central China's Hunan province, plans to lure both local residents and tourists by displaying tightly-clustered white flowers in spring.

Starting as small groups of green buds and blossoming into snow-white flowers, the arrival of Chinese snowball viburnum marks the end of cold weather. The city has once again held a special art festival to enjoy their beauty in Kaifu district's Zifeng Park. 

Dancers dressed in traditional costume take photos in front of the flourishing Chinese snowball viburnum in Kaifu district's Zifeng Park, Changsha. [Photo by Liu Jun/icswb.com]

It's the fifth time Changsha has held such a festival to admire the flowers. During the two-day event, speeches, dances, and poetry recitals as well as forums focusing on the flowers and model citizens in Kaifu district, were carried out.

Zifeng Park is a perfect place to appreciate the blossoms' natural beauty, with more than 200 snowball viburnum trees of eight varieties flourishing. The rarest among them was planted about 35 years ago, according to Zhou Wei, an official of the park management office.

The flowering season will last 20 days, and there's no charge for flower lovers to come and enjoy its charm.

Changsha citizens admire Chinese snowball Viburnum in full bloom in Zifeng Park, Changsha. [Photo by Chen Yu/cs.wenming.cn]

A shutterbug takes pictures of the snow-white flowers in Zifeng Park, Changsha. [Photo by Liu Jun/icswb.com]