Saturday marked the opening of Tianjin University’s annual Crabapple Blossom Festival that runs for two weeks.
Photo: Tianjin University
Tianjin University is one of the best places in Tianjin, a municipality in Northern China, to view crabapple blossoms. It has held the Crabapple Blossom Festival for ten years in a row since 2012.
As the campus is still off-limits to the public, the university hosted a one-hour long online flower live broadcast starting at 10 am, featuring not only the stunning full bloom beauty of crabapple blossoms on its campus, but also festival events featuring the university community. The broadcast was carried by multiple media outlets and short video platforms like CCTV Video, People Video, Douyin and Bilibili.
In the middle of the Mingde Road, which is the best scenic spot to appreciate crabapple flowers, a shiny red-booth was most eye-catching element in the live show.
“I hope that mankind will overcome the epidemic as soon as possible. And I am proud to have been a frontline doctor fighting against the virus,” said Zhao Xiaoyun to the camera installed within the booth. As a medical worker from the Chest Hospital Affiliated to Tianjin University, he was the leader of the hospital’s epidemic prevention and control group. This year, Zhao and his colleagues were invited as special guests to view the crabapple blossoms on campus.
Near the red-booth was a big crabapple tree with many red cards hanging from it, dancing amid the flowers with the light breeze. Some cards prayed for peace and prosperity for the country. Others showed a resolution to pursue academic success.
“The booth together with the big tree show people’s aspirations for the future and their love of the country, the university or their loved ones,” said Zhao Xijun, one of the festival organizers. “The activity is designed to pay tribute to the great new era when our country has started a new journey to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way. A new starting point calls for a new adventuring spirit. We hope our students can ride on the waves of the times and align their personal dreams with the great cause of national rejuvenation.”
International students stage a dance and singing show in front of the library. (Photo: Liu Dong)
Besides enjoying flower shows, online audiences were able to get a glimpse of university culture through events like exhibitions, science popularization activities, sports activities and art performances.
Photo: Tianjin University
From 2012 to 2021, Tianjin University’s Crabapple Blossom Festival has attracted more 200,000 people including teachers, students, alumni and visitors from all walks of life onto the campus and entertained nearly 2 million people through online flower shows hosted in 2020 and 2021. There are all together 800 crabapple trees on the university’s Weijin Road campus and 1,300 trees on its Peiyangyuan campus.