Winter wheat covering 500 sq m (.12 acres) between Zhuhai Opera House and De Yue Fang Restaurant have begun bearing ears on Yeli Island, adding unexpected rustic serenity between the popular venues.

The crop was planted during Spring Festival along with colorful rapeseed, daisy-like coreopsis, spidery cleome, garden balsams, and Chinese flowering crab-apples.

A rare sight in semitropical South China, the wheat field attracts visitors to sightsee and take photographs. Sparrows and other birds also frequent the island.

Winter wheat is a drought-tolerant heliophile, which requires eight to 10 hours of sunlight a day. From afar, the field currently resembles a huge green carpet but will turn golden when it ripens in May.

Wheat field near Zhuhai Opera House [Photo by Gu Chunting / Zhuhai Daily]