Flower growers and merchants in southwest China's Yunnan Province are turning to livestreaming e-commerce to keep the industry thriving during summer, a season traditionally marked by slumping sales due to high temperatures and a lack of floral gifting festivals.
Unlike traditional florists that focus on gift flowers, online hosts are redefining demand by promoting fresh flowers for everyday home decoration, encouraging consumers to enjoy blooms as part of their daily life.
This shift is helping fill the consumption void during the off-peak season.
At the Dounan Flower Market in the provincial capital Kunming, the largest fresh-cut flower trading hub in Asia, many vendors now operate dedicated livestreaming studios.
On camera, hosts showcase seasonal blooms like lilies, while behind them, workers swiftly trim, hydrate, and pack the flowers. Orders are then shipped nationwide via cold-chain logistics or air freight, with deliveries reaching customers in as little as 48 hours.
Some merchants report selling around 10,000 orders per day through livestreams -- translating to 50,000 to 80,000 flowers daily.
"Flower prices are better now in the market than before. We sometimes need a day or two to sell out. With e-commerce, our flowers can be sold out in just one or two hours," said Liu Guanbao, a local flower grower.
According to Douyin E-commerce, the e-commerce division of Chinese online video-sharing platform Douyin, over the past year, an average of nearly 550,000 flower orders from Yunnan were sold on the platform each day. More than 37 million consumers have participated in the online purchases, with livestreaming sales surpassing 120 million orders cumulatively. "Many flower farmers are now selling their blooms through livestreaming, short videos, and other direct-to-consumer channels. Between 2021 and 2024, about 70 percent of the growth in flower sales came from livestreaming, a remarkably fast pace. Sales through e-commerce now account for about 58 percent of the total transaction value in the flower industry," said Chen Houyou, deputy director of the digital commerce and information technology division at Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce.
Livestreaming e-commerce boosts summer flower sales in Yunnan Province
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
