Cheerful pinky-creamy flowers plus a series of events kick off the annual international cherry blossom festival in northeastern China's coastal city of Dalian.

In the city's Lushun district, where the opening ceremony of the festival is held, over 30 kinds of cherry blossom trees provide visitors with wonders of springtime. Single cherry blossoms with fewer petals are already in full bloom, whereas more rare species are expected to gradually reach peak blossom in the coming weeks as temperature rises. Lushun's 203 Cherry Blossom Park, a major tourist destination, attracted tens of thousands of tourists on the first day and has become a spring outing must-go for citizens. Apart from its symbolic meaning of ardor, and dignity, some visitors told us that nowadays they are also fond of the romantic feelings it creates.

Dalian is home to thousands of cherry trees. Due to its northerly location, cherry trees in Dalian usually start to blossom later in the year at about the same time as Aomori, Hakodate, and Sapporo in northern Japan. But experts say this year the relatively warm weather has brought florescence ahead that will last for over a month.

Culture also blooms at the festival with Lushun's cherry blossom parks featuring local food, folk craft, musical instruments, and China-Japan-Korea artworks. The floral celebration will run until May 20, during which activities like a public photo exhibition, cultural tourism investment symposium as well as cross-country race along the cherry blossom avenue will take place. 

Sun Hongjie, deputy director of Lushun Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that this year's festival will give the general public a unique sightseeing experience in both days and nights assisted by special performances and display techniques.

China is said to have a 2,000-year history of planting cherry blossoms in royal gardens. In Tang Dynasty which is about 1,000 years ago, these delicate flowers prevailed among private gardeners. While Sakura may be more commonly associated with springtime in Japan, China's cherry blossoms are also spectacular in cities like Dalian, Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai.