Thursday marks Qixi Festival in China. This is one of the country's traditional festivals most commonly referred to as Chinese Valentine's Day. People celebrate the occasion by giving gifts especially flowers. Our Yang Jinghao reports from one of the world's largest flower markets. 

Bustling with people even late at night, this is how the Dounan Flower Market in the city of Kunming has been like during the past week, as the traditional Qixi Festival approaches.

YANG JINGHAO Kunming City "The Qixi Festival – also known as Chinese Valentine's Day  falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Its growing popularity in recent years has spurred the local market for related products, in particular, flowers."

Wang Yangbin is a "flower broker". He's been receiving a growing number of orders from his clients across the country.

WANG YANGBIN Flower Broker "In normal times, I usually deliver seven to ten thousand flowers to my clients each day. In the past week, I delivered some 30 to 50 thousand a day."

And the prices have also kept rising, especially for roses.

HU DONGMEI Flower Seller "The price of the variety called 'Pink Snow Mountain' has increased from about 20 yuan a bundle to some 60 yuan. Those with better quality can even be sold at about 80 yuan."

Kunming, hailed as "the city of eternal spring", welcomes crowds from all over the country during the summer vacation and Dounan market is a popular destination. Some 1.35 million people visited the market in the first half of this year, 13 percent more compared to the same period last year.

DING XINNAN Tourist "The market is famous and with the Qixi Festival around the corner, I want to buy some flowers for my girlfriend. It's very impressive here. I've never seen such a big flower market."

CHEN FANGYUAN Tourist "The flowers here are really fresh and beautiful. And the prices are affordable. But the delivery costs are a little bit high."

Last year, a total of 8.3 billion flowers were traded here, hitting a record high. The market expects a better performance this year as the country is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. YJH, CGTN, Yunnan Province.