The country's first immortal flower industry association has been established in Shilin County, Yunnan Province.
On June 30th, the first Everlasting Flower Industry Association in China was established in Shilin County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province. 61 enterprises from Jinan, Chengguan, Shilin and Songming areas joined the association, covering all links of the industry chain including planting, research and development, and trade. This marks that the Everlasting Flower industry in Yunnan Province has officially entered a new stage of standardization and quality improvement, brand empowerment, and joining forces to go global.
In 2025, the total output value of the entire flower industry chain in Yunnan will exceed 140 billion yuan, with a planting area of 2 million acres and a production volume of 2.21 billion stems. It will remain the world's top in this field and continue to lead the development of the national flower industry. Every 7 fresh-cut flowers in the country will have 1 stem from Yunnan. With the global first fresh-cut flower production capacity and the independent core "Chinese chip" technology deeply laid out, the immortal flower industry has become a new growth pole of Yunnan's flower industry. There are over 300 immortal flower factories in the province, which have steadily employed more than 10,000 people. The annual growth rate of the immortal flower industry in the province is 30%.
Preserved flowers, also known as preservation flowers, are made from fresh flowers and utilize technologies such as cell fluid polymer replacement. After undergoing multiple processes including dehydration, decolorization, drying, and coloring, they achieve "anti-aging" preservation and can remain "fresh" for 3 to 5 years.
From a fresh-cut flower to an immortal flower, from China to being popular in 50+ countries and regions around the world, its value has increased tenfold or even hundreds of times. An immortal flower has become the silent spokesperson for "China's beauty".
From "0" to leading, the key lies in "Chinese chips"
In recent years, the immortal flower industry in Yunnan has grown rapidly, accounting for 90% of the market share on the Amazon platform in the United States. Among them, the Shilin immortal flowers focus on high-end products. In the European and American markets, one out of every five immortal flowers is from Yunnan Shilin County, accounting for 22%.
Shilin County, a World Natural Heritage Site, a World Geopark, and the hometown of the Asima tribe in China - it has 41,300 mu of standardized flower bases, and produces 720 million fresh-cut flowers annually. There are 15 professional immortal flower processing factories and over 40 related business entities in the county, forming a complete processing cluster. The annual output value of immortal flowers in the county exceeds 120 million yuan.
In the domestic artificial flower market, from "using imported materials for high-end products" to domestic artificial flowers accounting for 99% of the total, Yunnan flowers have broken the technological monopoly of countries like Japan and Ecuador that has lasted for nearly three decades through technological innovation. They have formulated the first local standard for artificial flower processing in China and are currently compiling a national industry standard, achieving a transformation from "starting from zero" to "leading the way" through "catching up".
Lu Yuanxue, the secretary-general of the Yunnan Flower Association and a senior engineer at the Kunming Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that currently, Yunnan has the largest number of patents for artificial flower preservation and the entire process worldwide, covering processes, formulas, equipment, and cultural products, and Shilin Huale Artificial Flower Industry Association's leading unit, Shilin Hualai Artificial Flower Co., Ltd., is the enterprise with the most individual patents.
The cultural heritage of Shilin Axiama is profound, with unique karst landforms and excellent climate, providing abundant sunlight. The local varieties such as multi-headed roses have plump flower shapes, thick petals, and few diseases, resulting in superior quality and ample space for industrial expansion.
In recent years, the flower cultivation industry in Yunnan has shifted from the areas around Duntan and Yiliang to Shilin, driving the establishment of permanent flower processing enterprises and making it a core cluster area for the domestic permanent flower industry. In the future, the association will, in combination with the unique karst landforms of Shilin, continue to select and cultivate native plants such as woody and herbaceous plants, and continuously expand the category map of permanent flowers.
From scattered competition to collective win-win, it has promoted the high-quality development of the entire cloud flower industry chain.
Currently, the provincial permanent flower industry has initially formed an integrated industry prototype of planting, processing, design, and sales. However, when compared with internationalization, standardization, and branding development, there are still problems such as scattered industrial layout, inconsistent industry standards, prominent product homogeneity, and insufficient high-end innovation.
The president of the Shilin Permanent Flower Industry Association, Zhou Biliang, said that the association will base itself in Shilin, serve the entire province, connect with the whole country, and face the world. It will break the development situation of enterprises working alone, integrate upstream and downstream resources, unify industry standards, and standardize the industrial ecosystem, helping Shilin build a new industrial pattern of "flowers + permanent flowers" driven by two wheels, and injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the provincial characteristic flower industry.
The association will continue to make efforts in areas such as the establishment of industry standards, safety production, and the construction of the talent innovation chain. It will establish a safety production professional committee to firmly adhere to the two bottom lines of safety and environmental protection. It will focus on the construction of the park and fully promote the construction of the Stone Forest Yongshenghua International Industrial Park, striving to build an international permanent flower trading market, establishing a comprehensive and three-dimensional publicity and e-commerce system, and constructing an international industrial system. It will deepen the integration of industry-university-research, using innovation to drive industrial upgrading, and hold at least one national-level permanent flower flower art skills competition every year, promoting the transformation of the industry from primary processing to high-quality, cultural, and high-end production, and comprehensively enhancing the core competitiveness of the permanent flower industry in the province. It will actively integrate into domestic and international flower exhibitions and foreign trade platforms, and comprehensively enhance the industry's popularity and international influence.。
As the leading member and a top enterprise in China's Presrved flower industry, "Zhou Biliang's Flowers" broke through first. It holds 26 patents, including 2 invention patents. The production cycle of immortal flowers has been shortened from the original 30 days to 7 to 10 days. The varieties of flowers used for making immortal flowers have increased from 10 to over 100. The products have been exported to 50 countries and regions including the United States, Japan, and Dubai, and have become the designated suppliers for over 100 international brands such as Chanel, Armani, and Dior. The quality of immortal flowers has reached the international first-class level. In 2025, the enterprise will produce and sell 12 million branches of immortal roses, peonies, hydrangeas, etc., with an output value exceeding 50 million yuan. It is expected that the sales volume and output value will increase significantly in 2026 compared with the previous year.
Zhou Biliang stated that the key to the development of the enterprise lies in the all-round efforts of the entire industrial chain, including research and development, planting, production, sales, and service. Each link truly helps customers solve problems. Now with the association, everyone unites and achieves mutual benefit, leading to a healthy development. The influence of immortal flowers in Yunnan will further increase globally.
Quality upgrade, "beauty industry" becomes "happiness industry"
From the source variety selection to planting management, immortal flower production, creative design, brand marketing, every link of an immortal flower is filled with the hard work and ingenious thinking of the practitioners.
With the continuous improvement and upgrading of the entire immortal flower industry chain, the fate of nearly 10,000 immortal flower practitioners in Yunnan has also taken on a new posture. In Shilin County, thousands of people have also "filled their pockets" due to immortal flowers.
In Baizhuo Village, flower farmer Tao Hongwei calculated: On 20 acres of land, previously growing ordinary fresh-cut flowers, by this mid-month, all were changed to immortal flowers exclusively for the flowers - "black magic". With the enterprise's technical guidance and a guarantee mechanism of 15% higher than the market price for guaranteed purchase, his income has increased from 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per mu per year to 40,000 to 50,000 yuan, with a significant increase in income. However, he also has new "worries": The acceptance standards for immortal flower raw materials are much higher than those of traditional fresh-cut flowers. They require a good shape and quality screening. Those that do not meet the standards cannot be recycled. He is eager to learn better management techniques to grow more and more beautiful high-quality flowers. "Each type of exclusive rose has different growth habits. Now I'm looking for experts to learn, and I'm also going to learn with friends in other places. If the income is good, I will further expand the scale," Tao Hongwei said.
The iterative upgrade from quantity to quality of immortal flowers, and the growth of high additional value behind it， is the value reshaping and competition among immortal flower enterprises in various countries in terms of technology， aesthetics， business models， etc. And professionals are opening up rural revitalization with "beauty".
n 2025, a new job category called "Flower Preservation Production Worker" will be established. Du Min, who lives in Banqiao, has taken up the role of a florist right at her doorstep. "It only takes one or two weeks to get the hang of it. At first, I wasn't able to control the force of my hands properly, but now I'm quite proficient." A beautiful career requires just the right balance and meticulous craftsmanship. Currently, Du Min is able to balance work and family, earning over 4,000 yuan per month, which makes her very satisfied. The gradual standardization of the industry and the continuous division of job categories have enabled countless people to find new growth possibilities right at their doorstep. The never-fading Chinese-style romance not only reaches all over the world but also makes people's lives as fragrant and beautiful as flowers.
Zhang Li, the deputy director of the Management Committee of Taiwan Farmers' Entrepreneurship Park in Kunming Shilin, introduced that Shilin County will focus on cultivating the immortal flower industry as a characteristic agriculture, cultural and creative industry, and tourism and culture integration industry. It will continue to introduce supporting policies, providing full guarantees in terms of base construction, technical training, and talent introduction, to help the high-quality development of the immortal flower industry in Yunnan and promote common prosperity among all ethnic groups. (Wei Xiyue/Text, Zhu Jiang/Photo)
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