The Puzhehei scenic area in the Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province has seen the emergence of its first pair of twin lotus flowers this year, a variety symbolizing love and good luck in the Chinese culture.
On a same flower stalk, the two buds are growing side by side, expected to burst into full bloom soon.
Twin lotus flowers occur at an extremely low rate -- about one in every 100,000 -- and cannot be cultivated through human intervention.
The twin lotus flowers have been spotted at Puzhehei's 10-hectare water-lily patch. The flowers are now in their peak blooming season, attracting numerous tourists.
Rare twin lotus flowers wow tourists in southwest China's Yunnan
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's hospital ship "Silk Road Ark" departed a military port in Zhanjiang City of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday morning on a mission to provide medical services for naval personnel stationed in the South China Sea.
It marks the third time for the Silk Road Ark to carry out a mission to provide medical services for Chinese naval personnel stationed in the country's territorial waters, since the vessel entered service in 2024.
This mission will focus on common health issues among island-based troops, including neck, shoulder, lower back, and leg pain, skin diseases, and chronic conditions. A combination of shipboard consultations, island visits, and doorstep medical services will be offered. These include free check-ups, physical examinations, traditional Chinese medicine therapy, surgical procedures, and health education for stationed soldiers and their families.
The mission team is primarily made up of 70 medical staff from military hospitals and the Naval Medical University. A naval cultural service team under the PLA Southern Theater Command has also joined the voyage.
"During the voyage, we will conduct maritime casualty evacuation drills with experience-sharing sessions among medical personnel, and with medical equipment maintenance and repair, etc. Our goal is to bridge the 'last mile' of medical services along China's coastal frontiers and effectively enhance our frontline medical support capabilities," said Zhang Chuanyong, a lieutenant colonel with the medical service team.
The Silk Road Ark is China's second domestically designed and constructed 10,000-tonne-class standard ocean-going hospital ship. It just concluded a 234-day "Mission Harmony-2025" on April 26.
Chinese navy's hospital ship deploys to South China Sea to provide medical services for troops
