Spring joy: A visitor taking a photo of herself in front of the peach blossom trees at an orchard in the Xiaoyuzi village in Pinggu, Beijing.-CHOW HOW BAN/The Star

IT’S the time of the year when Beijing folk await the harvesting of the fa­­­­mous peaches from Pinggu district.

The sweet and crunchy fruit grown in abundance in the northeastern district is expected to hit the market by June or July.

Before the harvest, the peach trees blossom into a sea of pink and white – a sight to behold only unique to the Chinese capital.

In its prime, Pinggu will be covered by an area of 14,667ha full of peach blossoms, which is the largest cultivation base of peach flowers and fruits in China.

But the sight of peach blossoms is short-lived and it has become one of the most important activities for the city dwellers to head to the suburb to catch a glimpse of the beautiful flowers before they wither and fall within a week or two.

A peach farmer, who wanted to be known only as Madam Tang, said the bud would normally form on the peach tree in late winter and eventually turn into flowers in early or at the end of April.

“After the flowers fall, the fruit will grow out and by June we will harvest our first batch of peaches. By July or August, the peaches will grow bigger and even juicier,” said the farmer in her mid-40s when tending to her peach orchard, which is almost the size of three futsal pitches, at Xiaoyuzi village in Dahuashan town.

Like hundreds of other peach farmers, Madam Tang prides the kind of peaches that they cultivate on this fertile land which cashes in more than 100 million yuan (RM49mil) with a total peach production of 50 million kilos every year.

She explained that some peach trees in her orchard would bear up to 10kg of fruits and on a good day she would make 200 yuan to 300 yuan (RM100 to RM150) per tree.

Trucks would collect the fruits from the orchards but sometimes the farmers would sell the leftover at markets or by the road, she added.

“We won’t do much with the peach blossom but if someone wants to buy it, we will sell. There is only one season every year when there is harvest of peaches.

“It might look easy to cultivate peach trees but we still need to thin out the buds and flowers occasionally to ensure the growth of big and tasty fruits,” she said.

Farmers in the town receive thousands of visitors who take photos of peach blossoms at their orchards during the Beijing International Peach Blossom and Music Festival held every April, and pluck peaches later in July.

The town contributes 40% of the total peach production in Pinggu and about 20% of peaches sold in Beijing city come from the town.

This year, during the festival held from April 18 till May 8, 10 orchards in different towns in Pinggu, which are regarded as the best locations for viewing of peach blossoms, were open to the public for free.

Not only that, tourists also visited 10 community farms and lodging where they experimented with growing vegetables and staying with farmers. Hiking lovers enjoyed trekking on several newly-developed mountain-trekking routes in the district.

While enjoying nature, thousands of people flocked to the Yuyang International Ski Resort for a dose of good music at the Midi Music Festival, which featured 100 rock bands from China and other countries.

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