Zanhua went viral in 2023 after actress Zhao Liying did a photoshoot in Xunpu attire, which garnered millions of views on social media, and later sparked a trend among celebrities, like Maye Musk, mother of Elon Musk, who donned the headdress during a visit to China in 2024.
These unique practices, together with local women's clothing and accessories, were collectively enshrined as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2008. Even groups of male visitors to the village now appear wearing traditional Chinese attire capped off with zanhua.
However, fresh flowers have sometimes been difficult to obtain.
"Women often wear silk flowers," said Huang Liyong, who runs a Zanhua studio near the local temple of the sea goddess.
"In earlier times, they even used paper, or white garlic skins, to create the floral shapes."
Huang, 37, who was raised in Xunpu, has never seen her mother with short hair.
To work while keeping her hair tidy, her mother coiled it up and adorned it with flowers.
She also recalled a childhood of mending nets and shucking oysters learned from her grandmother, as well as carrying buckets of water to keep the seafood brought home by her parents fresh.
"With flowers in our hair, we feel no bitterness, no matter the hardship," Huang said.
As a local saying goes: "Wear flowers in this life, stay beautiful in every life."
As an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage, Huang has taken that beauty to nearly twenty countries. "Even when there is a language barrier, foreigners get excited to see the flowers. The pursuit of beauty is universal."
Huong Ly, a content creator from Vietnam, visited the village in April and filmed a video of her wearing the floral headdress. "It is so interesting. In Vietnam, it is very trendy, and I always wanted to come and try it myself," she said.
Georgia Tattersall from New Zealand, a student at Xiamen University, performed a dance wearing zanhua during an April campus event. Despite the nerves, she felt a sense of "beauty and courage" once she was adorned with flowers.
The experience, she said, helped her understand the spirit of the local fisherwomen who wear flowers while they work.
Ding Ziyan contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at zhangyi1@chinadaily.com.cn
