On February 17th, it was learned from the Municipal Gardening and Greening Management Bureau that the 9th Changzhou Plum Blossom Festival, the first activity of the annual event of Changzhou Seasonal Blooms 2016, will be held in the Hongmei Park between February 20^thand March 13^th.

The theme of this festival is “plum blossom, the beginning of spring."

Currently, the Hongmei Park has a total of approximately 1,000 plum trees of seven varieties, mainly grown in the area of Hongmei Pavilion, Shangmei Levee and Yingmei bridge. At present, more than 40 percent of the park’s plum trees are blooming already, mainly in the area of Hongmei Pavilion.

According to Mr. Yuan Yongping, deputy director of the Management Office of Hongmei Park, in addition to the regular caring by gardeners, the park has conducted shape modeling of plant and control of flowering time in advance, and newly planted more than 30 plum trees in order to expand the area for visitors to enjoy plum blossoms.

During the 23 days of the festival, the park will also hold exhibitions of potted plum trees, beautifully arranged garden ornaments, interior arrangement of plum blossoms, etc.

The festival will also launch the art exhibition of “New Changzhou School,� lantern floating festival, mobile photography contest, painting and calligraphy exhibition, and the first “in a daze� contest.