5th Golden Camellia Festival opens in Fangcheng district

Officials of the Fangcheng district pose for a photo at the opening ceremony of the 5th Golden Camellia Festival on Jan 28. [Photo by Lv Jian/fcgsnews.com]

More than 2,000 guests attended the opening ceremony of the 5th Golden Camellia Festival on Jan 28, attracting entrepreneurs, experts and local residents. The event kicked off in the morning in the Fangcheng district of Fangchenggang, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The festival was sponsored by the Golden Camellia Industry Association and lasted for two days. The main venues were at the Zhenxia and Railway Station Squares. Included in the festival were a series of 10 activities, such as the 7th Lion Competition, a golden camellia product exhibition, the “Golden Flower Cup” Basketball Match and a variety show.

The golden camellia is regarded as “the panda of plants” and “the queen in tea” because of its unique golden petals, precious value of appreciation, nutritional and medicinal values, and difficulty in breeding.

The geographical location and climate in the Fangcheng district provides advantageous conditions for planting golden camellia. The area also boasts the world’s only national level golden camellia natural reserve and gene pool.

The reserve occupies a total area of 138,000 mu (9,200 hectares) and contains 28 types of known natural golden camellia, amounting to 72 percent of all.

In 2009, the China Economic Forests Association conferred the title of “the town of golden camellia in China” to Fangcheng district; in 2011, the golden camellia was named on the list of national geographical protection products.

There are more than 500 golden camellia farmers in the Fangcheng district who farm an approximate 20,000 mu golden camellia planting area. Almost 10 enterprises in the Fangcheng district rely on golden camellia, with a total production value of more than one billion yuan ($160 million).

The district has held four golden camellia festivals since 2009 and the festival won China’s special ecotourism festival award in 2014. During the 5th festival, sponsors have enhanced their businesses through the bridge of the golden camellia and have promoted the economy through spreading floral culture. The main goal of the sponsors in doing so was to show the charm of the golden camellia and attract more investment. The total investment of the 4th Festival amounted to 3.68 billion yuan.

With the upgraded brand awareness of golden camellia, the festival has become a brilliant name card of the Fangcheng district. Taking advantage of its resources, Fangcheng district has become a window for businessmen and customers to know the city, as well as create a trend for promoting the golden camellia plant in order to develop an industrial cluster and a method of developing a steady economy and sustainable society.

Edited by Feng Lu and Jake Hooson