Expect China to do the unexpected. Only this time around, their love for colours and beautification has resulted in an infusion of new colours in nature. Let us break it down to what Chinese scientists have recently managed to achieve – they have developed cole flowers in new colours, in fact, 17 new colours to boost the tourism in East China's Jiangxi Province. It took four years of intense research by Jiangxi Agricultural University to use technology to reach this magnificent development.
As spring has kicked off, the Wuyuan County in Jiangxi Province would turn into a sea of blooming yellow rapeseed flowers. The home to many small villages and acres of terraced fields decorated with cole flowers, Jiangling, Wuyuan County becomes one of the tourist hotspots during spring holiday. Understanding the appeal and beauty the place holds among visitors, the scientists worked towards giving them an even better view from the previous journeys.
"The sea of cole flowers is a signature of Jiangxi, but tourism has been long restricted by the limited colours of the flower," said Fu Donghui, who heads up the research was quoted by Xinhua. In the same report, Fu informed how he started working on cole flowers in 2002. In 2017, he cultivated four new colours, including purple and crimson, based on 13 other colours. Nine of the 17 colours his team have created are stable and for large-scale planting.
According to Fu, the new types of cole flowers contain more anthocyanin, a type of blue, violet, or red pigment. Wuyuan is one of the many counties that are quite popular among visitors due to the mesmerising views of cole flower fields. According to the local tourism development commission, more than 6,500 hectares of cole flowers are blooming joyously.
In several counties in Jiangxi, white cole flowers are already being planted in pilot projects. It is a matter of time when visitors will get to see colour options than just yellow flower beds in the county. Fu is confident of developing more colours in the coming future. The terraced hills in the county of Wuyuan covered with yellow flowers are nature lovers and photographers’ delight and one can only imagine their enthusiasm when nature backed by science will be filled with more colours.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2018 03:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).