The 2014 Pingyao Pear Flower Tourism Festival, in Xianghuan of Pingyao county, Shanxi province, has attracted numerous lot of tourists and increased the popularity of the traditional spring outing, this year, especially thanks to some pear culture activities with cultural connotations, such as artistic performances and a photography show along with fruit picking and the beautiful countryside scenery.

The pear tree activity has also introduced a new marketing method that allows visitors to interact with local peasant families to experience some farm work and tasting a real peasant meal.

The tourism bureau, in Xianghuan, has increased its Pear Flower Festival promotions to build a rural tourism brand and has added special tour lines for this particular festival, in cooperation provincial travel agencies, and has managed to pull in more than 10,000 visitors to the festival.

Xiangyuan has looked for ways to develop its leisurely countryside and agricultural tourism and has become a sort of model for ways to integrate leisure activities, agriculture, and rural tourism in Shanxi, and has provided a good foundation for making Xiangyuan a "pollution-free crisp pear" brand in China.

Edited by Roger Bradshaw