Festive demand boosts sales of flowers, dragon lanterns ahead of Spring Festival

With the approaching of China's Spring Festival, the country's grandest annual holiday for family reunion, flower markets and traditional craft workshops across the country are entering their busiest season, driven by rising consumer demand for festive plants and decorative dragon lanterns.

At a flower market in Shanghai's Qingpu District, more than 200 vendors operate businesses across an area of over 45 hectares.

With more than a month to go before the holiday, potted flowering plants with longer blooming periods and easier maintenance are among the most popular.

Imported varieties introduced this year have also proven popular.

"The colors of flowers on sale here are much richer than before. In previous years, the colors of flowers in supply were relatively limited. Now the plants are also easier to care for. The best sellers right now are pansies, violets and primroses," said Zhang Chen, owner of a flower shop.

Meanwhile, a dragon lantern production base in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, has also entered a peak season as orders rise both at home and abroad.

Workers here have been seen rushing to meet demand, producing more than 30 completed dragon lanterns on average each day for shipment across China and overseas.

"Our order volume has been gradually expanding. Demand for dragon lanterns this year has increased by 10 percent compared with previous years.," said Shi Kebin, a representative inheritor of the Chengnan Dragon Lantern, a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage item.

The Chengnan Dragon Lantern is listed as an intangible cultural heritage project in Jiangxi.

To make products more attractive to consumers, Shi has introduced new designs this year, incorporating horse design elements, in celebration of the upcoming Chinese zodiac Year of the Horse, through updated color schemes and structures.

New products include cartoon-style horse lanterns and DIY handheld dragon lanterns, aiming to bring the traditional craft into everyday life in a lighter and more playful form.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 5 pips to 7.0103 against the U.S. dollar Tuesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.