22nd Ningxia Liupan Mountain Flower Festival opens in Pengyang

The launch ceremony of the 22nd Ningxia Liupan Mountain Flower Festival. [Photo provided by Xin Yili to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 22nd Ningxia Liupan Mountain Flower Festival and the 14th "Enchanting Pengyang" agricultural, cultural and tourism consumption event kicked off on April 2 in Pengyang county, Guyuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. 

Tourists from across the country gathered to enjoy the spring flowers and stunning landscapes of the Loess Plateau.

Pengyang is home to over 800,000 mu (about 53,333 hectares) of mountain flowers. Every spring, they turn Pengyang into a popular destination for tourists from both inside and outside the region.

The terraced fields in Pengyang are covered in blooming flowers. Visitors have a picnic among the flowers. [Photo provided by Xin Yili to chinadaily.com.cn]

This year's festival will run until April 18, covering the entire peak flower-viewing period. To enhance the visitor experience, 20 flower-viewing spots have been selected, including the Jinjiping Terrace Park and Qingyun Bay.

In addition to flower viewing, there are various themed events on offer, including local fairs, specialty shopping, a flower sea car tour, the 6th bicycle challenge, and for calligraphy lovers, art gatherings and exhibitions with famous artists.

Visitors have a picnic among the flowers. [Photo provided by Xin Yili to chinadaily.com.cn]

Pengyang's spring romance didn't come easy. Over the past 40 years, the county has turned barren hills into more than 113,333 hectares of man-made shelter forests. Its forest coverage rate has jumped from just 3 percent at the county's founding to 23.97 percent today. The festival stands as a true witness to the Loess Plateau's green transformation.