On Sunday afternoon we visited the Kunming Flower Market on the southeast side of town. 70% of the flowers grown in China come from our province (about $5 billion USD/year), and many of those flowers pass through this market. Every day, farmers deliver their flowers
and pile them onto the loading dock;
they are then sorted and placed in racks for evaluation and auction to wholesalers:
Retail customers can buy them as well. A student on the subway told us that you can get 50 roses for 10 RMB (about $1.50):
There is also a huge retail market for potted plants:
and countless tables with amazing arrays of succulents:
We came to the market to visit a small business owned by one of my former students. Her retail store is in this big building full of similar shops selling preserved and dried flowers:
She tries to differentiate her business based on high quality and good customer service. Most of her business is on-line, much of it to international customers:
The day that we arrived, she was beginning to fill a large order for several thousand items (in the glass tube on the lower right of this picture):
Her grandmother is helping her with the business:
A couple of months ago, we were graciously given this beautiful shadow box:
It’s exciting to see one of our students with a budding business!
Grandmas in aprons…one of those normal things I had forgotten about! This reminds me of the Chengdu pet market (but probably much less stinky…)
I’m not sure if it is the same everywhere in China, but about half of the aprons here are emblazoned with “My Playmate” across the front…
Budding business….good one. 🙂