The opening ceremony of the 29th Shanghu Peony Flower Festival will be held on Mar. 29 in the Shanghu Scenic Area of Changshu City. This year’s festival will run until May 31.
The scenic area is home to more than 50,000 peony flowers of 300-plus varieties in 9 colors, which attract crowds of visitors every spring. Starting from Mar. 15, the early-spring varieties have begun to bloom. And such varieties like Luoyang Red are expected to be in full bloom from Apr. 1 to 15. This year, more than 1,000 potted peony flowers will be on display during the festival. Visitors can also appreciate other spring flowers such as tulips, daffodils, crabapple flowers, cherry blossoms, yulan magnolias and jasmines.
The Shanghu Lake is named after Jiang Shang, a famous statesman and strategist in the Shang and Western Zhou periods (about 1600-771 BC) who often went fishing on the lake.