Spring fused in blossom

"A sudden spring evening breeze triggers off thousands of pear blossoms."

This famous verse by Tang poet Cen Shen (AD 715-770) is an apt description of the 16th Pear Flower Festival of Panggezhuang, which kicked off this week in south Beijing's Daxing district in a 2,000-hectare pear orchard.

There are 40 species of pear trees and more than 30,000 of them are centuries-old ones.