ZHENGZHOU, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- As people across China got ready to celebrate the Chongyang Festival, designated "Elder's Day" five years ago, Yu Shunxia began preparing for her busiest time for business.
Yu sells chrysanthemum in Kaifeng, central China's Henan Province. It is traditionally believed that drinking chrysanthemum wine during the Chongyang Festival can protect people from evil spirits.
"My phone was constantly ringing these days, and people asked for information about buying and selling chrysanthemum, or picking and processing the flower. It's all about the flower," Yu said.
Kaifeng, known by many Chinese as "the city of chrysanthemum", has a history of being home to the flower for more than 1,500 years.
"People usually grow chrysanthemum for its beauty. Few think about making chrysanthemum into edible products," Yu said.
Yu saw market potential for chrysanthemum-related food products in 2013, when she amassed around 133 hectares of land from local farmers and built a chrysanthemum industrial park.
After five years, the company has made the flower into a variety of products, including tea, sugar, pastry and wine, which are sold far beyond the city.
More recently, she has been looking into the possibility of making beauty and healthcare products with chrysanthemum in order to stay competitive in the market.
Yu's company hires more than 100 workers and processes up to 14 tonnes of chrysanthemum every day. "The company has an annual revenue of 30 million yuan (around 4.35 million U.S. dollars)," Yu said.
Local people can either lease their land to the company or supply Yu's business with flowers they grow themselves.
Kaifeng is not the only place in China where the flower market is blooming.
Hengxian County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, also known as China's "home of jasmine", has a population of more than 1 million. More than one third of the county's population are employed in growing jasmine. More than 130 jasmine tea companies have created over 4,000 jobs for local villagers.
In 2016, the output value of jasmine and jasmine tea-related industries was 6.5 billion yuan in Hengxian, with the total value of the county's jasmine and jasmine tea brands reaching 18 billion yuan.
