Xixi Huazhao Festival

The Xixi Huazhao Festival takes place annually from April 2 to May 11 in the spring at Xixi National Wetland Park. For the Xixi Huazhao exhibition, 12 different flower areas have been separated and developed, adding to the charm of Xixi National Wetland Park during the festival season in spring.

The 12 flower areas are successively named, “the language of Chinese flowering crabapple”, “the charm of Viburnum”, “the idea of Cuckoo”, “the appeal of Peony”, “the aroma of Plum Blossom”, “the grace of Wisteria”, “the love of May Bloom”, “the appointment of Rose”, “the family of clematis”, “the dance of Sakura”, “the song of Lilac”, and “the beauty of Lily”.

The Tradition of Xixi Huazhao Festival

Xixi "Huazhao" Festival is traditionally named “Flower Deity Festival” or "Birthday of Hundreds of Flowers”. Its popularity has spread across China's northern, northeastern, eastern, and south-central regions. It is mainly held on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month every year. Some Chinese people also celebrate this festival on the 12th and 15th days of the 2nd lunar month.  During the celebration period, people gather to view flowers in the suburban area. This is what Chinese people usually call “have an outing” in spring. According to the “Huazhao” festival customs, girls usually “go on their red tour”, which means cutting some colorful papers and sticking them to the branches of flowers. 

In old times, people in the southern region of China celebrated the “Huazhao” Festival on the 12th day of the 2nd lunar month. On that day, families would offer their offerings to the flower deity. Women cut out their five-color papers and tied them to the flowery trees. Another thing they would do was to go to the temple of the flower god and burn incense. It is a prayer for good fortune and happiness. By the way, each month has a different flower deity. For example, the flower deity of January is Liu Menghui (the male main character in the novel “Peony Temple”, a famous novel published in the Tang Dynasty), while the flower deity of February is Yang Guifei (a famous, beautiful, and fat imperial concubine in the Tang Dynasty).