A vibrant tapestry of spring blooms is unfolding across China, transforming rural farmlands and ecological parks into major tourist destinations, as local authorities have stepped up their efforts to integrate agriculture, culture and tourism to benefit locals.
In Wuhu City of east China's Anhui Province, an endless sea of rapeseed flowers blended seamlessly with nearby villages and distant green mountains, drawing a constant stream of visitors especially after more visually appealing colorful rapeseed flowers like orange-red, pink, light purple, and milky white were planted this year.
A vast expanse of pale pink cherry blossom garden in Wenzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province attracted tourists from all over the country. During the peak blooming season this year, it received an average of nearly 5,000 tourists per day, with a peak of nearly 20,000. The flower viewing period lasts from February to early April.
The Nanjing Green Expo Park offers one of the most awaited tulip exhibitions from March 7 to April 6 with 180,000 tulips of 22 varieties in their prime. There are also stunning art installations for photo ops, featuring windmills plus a dazzling sea of flowers plus dreamy backdrops all in one frame. It welcomed nearly 100,000 visitors in the first four days since opening, generating over 300,000 yuan (over 43,000 U.S. dollars).
In a village adjacent to the Yangtze River in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, over 130 hectares of plum blossoms are in full bloom, covering the hillsides in the vibrant spring. Capitalizing on its ecological advantages, the village has developed a rural industry that offers blossom viewing in spring and fruit picking in summer, thus promoting the integrated development of agriculture, culture, and tourism. A pear orchard has entered its best viewing period in Gejiu City of neighboring Yunnan Province. Local authorities have introduced a variety of cultural experience activities and created new consumption scenarios to fuel a robust flower viewing economy. It has received over 20,000 visitors since the start of this year's flower appreciation season on March 5.
Spring flowers turn China’s farmlands and parks into tourist draws
Pakistani warplanes struck several locations across Afghanistan on Thursday night and Friday, killing at least six people, including a woman and a child, and wounding more than a dozen others, local officials said.
The strikes hit a fuel depot near the country's Kandahar Airport, areas in the capital Kabul, and the eastern Nangarhar Province.
A Pakistani security source said the strikes targeted hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In Kabul's 21st police district, one of the areas hit, a market was left in ruins. Several cars were destroyed, and windows of buildings in the market and nearby areas were shattered. A crater caused by the Pakistani airstrikes was also visible.
"This is my car. I had parked it here, and it was the only way I could bring food to my family's table. It was my sole source of income and my only means of employment. Now my car is in this condition, and I have no other way to provide for my family," said Mohamad Ghulam, a taxi driver.
The airstrikes destroyed a house, killing four members of a single family. More than a dozen other households in the area reported their homes either fully or partially destroyed.
One of the victims was 22-year-old Hedayatullah, who had just been married. He was killed alongside his pregnant wife, as well as his brother and sister.
"Hedayatullah got married nine months ago. His brother was 18 years old. He himself was 22 years old, he also had a 12-year-old sister, and his wife was about 19 years old and was pregnant," said Ghulam Sakhi, a relative of the victims.
"This neighbor of ours was a family of five. Their mother was not present at the moment of the bombardment, but the rest of them lost their lives. It was Hedayatuallah's family. From my own family, two of my daughters, my sister-in-law, my brother, and two nieces got injured," said Mohamad Homayoun, a survivor.
In the past weeks, scores of people from both sides have been killed or injured in the conflict between Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, according to officials from the two countries.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has called for an immediate halt to cross-border clashes, warning that the escalating violence is driving a surge in civilian casualties and deepening a humanitarian crisis.
At least 6 killed, more than a dozen wounded in Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan: officials
