High-tech boosts Yunnan flower industry

Yunnan Province, known as "Flower Kingdom" in southwest China, has made breakthroughs in its flower seed industry with self-grown varieties and smart agriculture.

The provincial capital Kunming claims favorable conditions for flower cultivation. Geographically positioned in low latitude and high altitude, plus sufficient sunshine even in winder, various new flower strains thrive in breeding greenhouses.

At the Flower Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, researchers have developed a novel variety with rich fragrance.

"It has not been registered as a new variety as yet, but it's of very, very good phenotypic trait. Both its parents have strong fragrance, so is this variety. Many rose varieties in the market are actually not fragrant at all. So, we should pioneer a new track that is different from foreign breeding," said Cai Yanfei, a researcher at the institute.

China's homegrown flower varieties account less than a quarter of the market, which means merchants and consumers have to pay patent fees ranging from 3 to 12 percent of the price of flowers sold at market. And this is a bottleneck the institute has try to break.

Lisianthus or eustoma is one of the most popular flower varieties in the Chinese market, and its seeds used to be completely imported, at the cost of 6,400 yuan (about 877 U.S. dollars) per gram. Now, the institute has make breakthroughs in key breeding technologies to end this reliance.

"We adopted the efficient somatic embryogenesis approach to develop somatic embryos of lisianthus, from which we obtained lisianthus seedlings in large quantities. Thus the seedlings from our scaled production broke the monopoly of foreign seed industry on lisianthus seeds. We don't have to buy those expensive seeds any more," said Li Fan, another researcher at the institute.

High-tech applications have also been introduced to the planting process, like smart greenhouses which automatically controls fans, skylights, and sunshades according to the light, temperature, and moisture required by the plants. The combination of standardized management, integrated water and fertilizer systems, and soilless cultivation modes has greatly shortened the planting cycle and increased yields, attracting more and more flower growers.

"Our intelligent greenhouses like this can harvest six or seven times a year, at a yield of 2.4 million to 2.7 million flower plants per hectare," said Sun Xiaoming, associate professor of the China Agricultural University.

There is also a standardized and intelligent processing and sorting system, where plants will be accurately classified by length and size before packaging. The flowers will then be placed in cold storage and transported to consumers through a full cold-chain logistics system.

The high-tech support has ensured higher quality and longer blooming period for these fresh cut flowers.

High-tech boosts Yunnan flower industry

A former television host from Taiwan, Zhai Xuan, has made a pivotal decision to leave mainstream broadcasting in order to create content that provides a better understanding of the Chinese mainland and cross-strait relations.

Zhai, a seasoned television host with over a decade of experience in Taiwan's media landscape, recently addressed an audience at an event in Beijing, where she revealed her complete transition into independent online media.

In her remarks, she articulated her aspiration to bridge what she perceives as a significant information gap between audiences on both sides of the Strait, highlighting her commitment to fostering a deeper understanding and connection through her new endeavors.

"I was really surprised by all the fake news. There were stories saying people on the mainland can't afford tea eggs or that they live in mud houses and in Taiwan, this was the main information many people received," said Zhai.

Zhai said she initially began producing online videos to challenge such perceptions while continuing her work as a television host.

In April 2025, she travelled to the mainland with her father to fulfill her late grandfather's wish to return to his hometown. The trip, which reunited family members separated since 1949, was recorded in a video series titled "Journey to Find Our Roots", drawing attention from viewers in both Taiwan and the mainland.

"Many people in Taiwan told me that after watching, they wanted to apply for a mainland travel permit immediately and go looking for their relatives. Some had long forgotten these things, but after seeing my story, they began thinking about their hometowns and family members they had never met and decided to search for their roots," Zhai shared her story at the event.

By mid-2025, Zhai said she began to feel increasing pressure amid rising political tensions and a tightening atmosphere around cross-Strait exchanges in Taiwan.

After more than 12 years in the industry, Zhai resigned from her position, believing it was the right thing to do.

"At that moment, I felt this was a major issue，not just for me, but for Chinese people on both sides of the Strait. If I backed down then, I wouldn’t be standing on the right side," said Zhai.

Since leaving television, Zhai has broadened her online programming to encompass a range of daily-life topics, including practical guidance on applying for a mainland travel permit and using commonly employed mobile applications, in addition to content that delves into historical memory and cultural connections across the Strait.

As the debate over cross-Strait relations continues in Taiwan, Zhai said she remains committed to her current path.

Former Taiwan TV host bridges cross-Strait divide via online media