Tian'e boosts tourism with Tung Blossoms Festival

Hechi's Tian'e county held an opening ceremony for the 8th Sanbao Tung Blossoms Festival on April 1, attracting more than 20,000 tourists from provinces of Guizhou and Hunan, as well as cities of Chongqing, Nanning, Liuzhou and Guilin. 

Sanbao town is in the northwestern part of Tian'e county. It is located at the foot of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, with an average altitude of nearly 1,000 meters. The Lanyi Zhuang, a branch of the Zhuang ethnic group, settled here. Their name derives from their tradition of wearing blue-colored clothes.

Sanbao township is known as the "township of tung oil", given it has a total planting area of over 100,000 mu (6,667 hectares). Local people have been extracting tung oil for many years to produce waterproof, anti-corrosive, and rust-resistant coatings. More recently, the town has been focused on developing the ornamental value of tung oil flowers, while also staging the Tung Blossoms Festival in spring to promote the development of the tung oil and ecological cultural tourism industries.

At 10:20 am, to the sound of bronze drums, villagers and tourists danced on bamboo poles, marking the opening of the event.

During the ceremony, professional performers and local amateurs staged a series of literary and artistic programs to entertain tourists.

The Lanyi Zhuang people prepared a long table banquet for guests, featuring cured meat, handmade tofu, and other specialties.

Local people also displayed the traditional embroidery skills, national competitive sports, and traditional marriage customs of the Lanyi Zhuang during the event.

Tourists enjoy tung oil flowers in Sanbao town, Tian'e county. [Photo/Hechi Daily]