Popularity of Zanhua lifts incomes of local residents in Quanzhou

From a young age, Bai Lan, 71, has been involved in the traditional practice of Zanhua — the craft of pinning a colorful floral accessory headdress — in Quanzhou, East China's Fujian province.

In 2015, Bai, the inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage, founded a store that offers pinning headdresses, makeup and photography services for travelers in Xunpu, a small fishing village in Quanzhou.

The store, which became quite popular from 2023, receives about 50 to 60 customers daily in summer, the peak season. Bai and her daughter are usually busy at work from 8 am to 9 pm most days, catering to customers.

Zanhua has been part of the traditional cultural expression of women in Xunpu, a village near the ports of the starting points for the ancient Maritime Silk Road, and which boasts a history of at least 1,000 years.

Bai's daughter Wu Shuchun said the family used to sell seafood for a living and that changing their career path to Zanhua has helped to double their income.

As pinning floral headdresses and taking pictures has become the trend among travelers nationwide, more women from Xunpu have started operating such stores.

Currently, Xunpu has nearly 300 stores offering such services, and they cumulatively receive about 20,000 visits from tourists daily during peak season, according to the local district government.

The popularity of Zanhua has boosted the growth of the cultural and creative sectors, catering, and bed-and-breakfast homestays, driving consumption value in Fengze district to over 5 billion yuan ($695 million) in the period between 2022 and 2024, and the incomes of local residents have more than doubled during the period, the local district government said.

In the past few years, Quanzhou has become a trendy tourist destination for domestic as well as foreign travelers, as the city has continued to promote the culture of the Maritime Silk Road.

Last year, the city received more than 100 million visits, up 16.8 percent year-on-year. Total tourism revenues exceeded 120 billion yuan, jumping 20.8 percent year-on-year, according to the bureau of culture and tourism in Quanzhou.

During the five-day May Day holiday this year, the city received over 7 million visits and travelers spent more than 6 billion yuan in total, both showing growth of nearly 30 percent on a yearly basis, data from the bureau showed.

"We have continued to strengthen cooperation with online travel platforms such as Trip.com Group and Tongcheng Travel, as well as social media platforms like Douyin and RedNote to enhance the influence of Quanzhou's cultural and tourism sector," said Cai Hongqiang, deputy director of the bureau of culture and tourism in Quanzhou.

Cai added that the city has also carried out various cultural and tourism exchanges at home and abroad to attract more visitors and maintain its popularity.