Roses honoring two late women who served rural China go on sale

KUNMING -- Two Chinese roses named after the women who died while helping rural communities went on sale in China earlier this week, following public calls to honor them with the flowers.

One is a gosling-yellow rose called "Wenxiu". The other, "Jiaolong", has soft-pink petals and a faint fragrance. Both were bred by the Flower Research Institute of the Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences and have independently developed Chinese intellectual property rights.

"Wenxiu" honors Huang Wenxiu, who returned to her hometown in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region after earning a master's degree in Beijing. She volunteered to work in Baini village of Leye county, helping residents improve their livelihoods.

In June 2019, Huang was caught in a flash flood while returning to the village. She died at 30.

The pink rose bears the name of He Jiaolong, who once served as deputy head of Zhaosu county in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. She became widely known in 2020 after a video of her riding a horse across snowy grasslands to promote local tourism went viral.

She later worked to help Xinjiang farmers sell their produce online. In January this year, she fell from a horse while filming promotional material for an agricultural sales campaign. She died three days later, aged 47.

Both roses were named at the suggestion of internet users. During separate online campaigns to select names in late 2025 and early 2026, "Wenxiu" and "Jiaolong" drew widespread support and were adopted by the breeders.

The institute later donated rose plants to Guangxi and Xinjiang, where the women had worked.

The flowers were developed in Yunnan, China's largest fresh-cut flower producer. The southwestern province produced 22.15 billion stems in 2025, while roughly seven in 10 fresh-cut flowers sold across China come from Yunnan.

Yunnan's flower industry also has an international reach. Its fresh-cut flower exports reached 1.22 billion yuan (about $181.7 million) in 2025, with shipments reaching 64 countries and regions.

Despite the industry's scale, Chinese growers have long relied on rose varieties developed overseas.

Cai Yanfei, a researcher at the institute, said that producing a new variety takes years of crossbreeding, screening and field observation to ensure its desirable characteristics remain stable.

The two varieties went on sale through e-commerce platforms on Thursday. Initial supplies were limited, but more flowers are expected to become available in December, Cai said.

For Huang's family, the rose is more than a new commercial variety.

In March, her elder sister, Huang Aijuan, traveled to Yunnan to receive the first plants. Wearing a pale-yellow blouse, she held a blooming "Wenxiu" rose in her hands, her eyes filling with tears.

"A flower so full of life, bearing Wenxiu's name, is the best tribute to her," she said.