Southwest China's Yunnan province is of low latitudes and high altitudes, with an elevation drop of 6,633.4 meters from the Meili Snow Mountain in the northwest to the Honghe River Valley in the southeast. The province covers almost every type of climate that can be found in China and abounds in flower germplasm resources. Therefore, flowers grow well in all seasons here.

Since the late 1980s, the flower industry has become a pillar industry for Yunnan's economic development. The "beautiful" industry has assembled more than 400,000 people.

Every evening, the Dounan flower market in suburban Kunming is as bright as day. "I purchase 700 to 800 kilograms of flowers every day. I place orders through the transaction market. Then I go to the auction area to pick up the goods," said Hu Wanqiong, who runs an online flower store. He has been in the trade for nearly six years, and he believes that the industry will grow bigger.

In 2018, the Dounan flower market achieved a transaction volume of 6.73 billion flowers, with a turnover of 5.59 billion yuan. It recorded an auction volume of 1.79 billion flowers, which were worth 2.6 billion yuan. The products were sold to domestic cities and 46 other countries. Now the flower market ranks first in Asia both online and offline in terms of total transaction volume and transaction turnover.

Yuan Fuwang is a flower merchant in Yunnan. He purchases flowers in Dounan once a week and sent them to his wife in Bokeo, Laos. “In our wholesale flower shop in Laos, 80 percent of the flowers come from Dounan. The high-quality roses and carnations are the most popular,” said Yuan.

According to an official of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration of China, Yunnan's flower industry has flourished with the country's steady social and economic development. In more than 80 large and medium-sized cities across China, seven out of ten fresh cut flowers are from Yunnan. To date, Yunnan has cumulatively developed 580 flower varieties, accounting for more than 60 percent of the national total of new flower varieties.