Based on its local characteristics, a village in east China's Jiangsu Province has stepped up its efforts to promote rural economy and tourism by leveraging its lotus resources.
In Qinli village, Shuangfeng town of Taicang city, colorful lotus flowers on the vast stretches of ponds are in full bloom and the elegant fragrance of lotus blossoms lingers in the air, attracting tourists from near and far.
Meanwhile, villagers are busy with harvesting lotus roots. Every day, a large number of fresh lotus roots are dug out of the mud, loaded onto trucks and taken away by wholesalers.
"I receive 1,000 to 1,500 kilograms of lotus roots daily, and I come here everyday," said distributor Le Lin.
In the pond, a lotus-themed cafe has become a popular spot, as visitors can both appreciate and taste the lotus blossoms.
"I use lotus oolong tea as the base and add a lot of special blends. The coffee has a light lotus fragrance," said cafe owner Gu Haiqiao.
The village's homestay houses also offer lotus feasts, featuring ingredients mostly sourced from tender lotus roots and fresh lotus seeds.
When night falls, a lotus-themed night market attracts more visitors, with cultural creative lotus bouquets enjoying the biggest popularity.
"There are a lot of people coming to buy flowers today. We specially matched this bouquet with a piece of wrapping paper printed with Chinese calligraphy to make it look more beautiful," said villager Gao Ya.
Jiangsu village promotes rural economy, tourism by leveraging lotus resources
China will take further steps to expand high-standard opening-up and create a new landscape of win-win cooperation in 2026, which marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Commerce Minister Wang Wentao said in a recent interview with China Media Group.
Wang said opening up and cooperation for mutual benefit are integral to Chinese modernization. This year, China will actively expand voluntary opening up.
The country will steadily open up such areas as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, while accelerating comprehensive pilot and demonstration programs for expanded opening-up in the services sector, he noted.
"We will expand the scope and regions of unilateral opening-up and ensure the implementation of zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of tariff lines for all African countries that have diplomatic relations with China. We will vigorously promote the effective implementation of policies for special customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, further enhance the level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, optimize the regional layout and coverage of pilot free trade zones, and support these zones in carrying out more robust institutional opening-up trials in areas such as market access, environmental standards and government procurement, so as to better leverage their role as comprehensive pilot platforms for reform and opening-up," said Wang.
Wang said China will promote the orderly planning of cross-border industrial and supply chains.
Efforts will be made to deepen economic and trade cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, enhance integration and connectivity across production and supply chains, and encourage cooperation in areas including green development, the digital economy, green minerals, new infrastructure and new energy so as to help build global production and supply chain partnerships that are equal, inclusive and constructive, he noted.
"We will give play to the platform role of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, expand overseas marketing networks and explore international markets through outward investment, achieve mutual promotion between investment and trade, and advance the integrated development of trade and investment. We will also improve the overseas comprehensive service system and the national-level overseas comprehensive service platform," said the minister.
In addition, China will participate constructively in global economic governance, according to the minister.
In 2026, Wang said, China will pursue flexible and pragmatic approaches to negotiate trade and investment agreements with more willing countries and regions, while strengthening economic and trade cooperation under multilateral frameworks such as BRICS, G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to further promote mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
China to expand high-standard opening-up to foster win-win cooperation: minister
