The 2024 West Lake Spring Festival Flower Show was declared open in the popular King Qian Temple by the West Lake on February 5. The show has a lot to offer from exquisite gardens to floral arrangements and shows of intangible cultural heritage until February 24. Come to the temple and enjoy the fun added to the Year of the Dragon by flowers. 

According to the organizer, the flower show features a Chinese fashion. At the entrance of Wupai Arch on Nanshan Road, flowers are arranged into the shapes of dragons and koi fish, which conveys an auspicious message of koi fish jumping over the dragon gate. 

Greeting visitors at the main gate is a giant “dragon” made from flowers. Together with red ribbons, it created a festive mood of the Spring Festival. Visitors can see red plums, winter sweet, styling camellia sasanqua, garden hyacinth and tulips, kumquat and tangerine plants for admiring, as well as holly branches with red fruits. Fragrant daphne flowers are refreshing and cider trees are imposing. With the decoration of colorful flowers and green trees, the temple square is magnificently beautiful. 

The greenhouse in the Yueli Hall is home to a dazzling variety of precious flowers, including azalea bonsai, peonies and water lilies. They are arranged in a Chinese style, hanging in the air with the support of tillandsia recurvata against the backdrop of golden bamboo tubes, lotus seedpods and Sping Festival poems. 

Another highlight is cultural activities, including opera performances, music solos (using Chinese musical instruments like guzheng, zhudi and pipa), folk shows, tea making ceremonies, calligraphy writing, and flower lectures. 

Special activities, like wedding on the lake, God of Fortune welcoming ceremony and face-changing performance in Sichun opera were staged on the fifth day of the first month in the lunar calendar. A theme parade has been also scheduled for the Lantern Festival, which is expected to attract particularly young visitors.