2025Guangzhou kapok flowers Appreciation|trip.com

Spring in Guangzhou belongs to the Kapok. As the city flower of Guangzhou, the Kapok, with its fiery red flame-like posture, has become the most distinctive spring mark of this city. During the flowering season, more than 2,000 Kapok trees in the city bloom, and the branches of the trees that can reach a height of 25 meters are covered with bowl-sized flowers. The petals are thick like silk and orange-red like fire. From a distance, they look like burning clouds, so they are known as the "hero flower".

The "King of Kapok" in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall is a unique one. This ancient tree, planted in 1669, is 27 meters tall and has a crown width of 33 meters. It blooms more than 80,000 flowers every year during its peak flowering period, which complements the blue glazed tiles and is rated as "China's most beautiful Kapok". The 9 century-old Kapok trees beside the Hundred-Step Stairs in Yuexiu Park have branches that are twisted and pointed to the sky, and together with the Zhenhai Tower and the Five Goats Statue, they form a picture of Lingnan spring.

The heroic spirit of Kapok is deeply rooted in Guangzhou. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, scholars praised its uprightness as "a man with a thick beard and a big face is a hero"; in modern times, the Kapok trees in the Huanghuagang Uprising and Guangzhou Uprising Martyrs Cemetery have become a symbol of revolutionary spirit. Today, strolling along Linjiang Avenue, under the red walls of the Agricultural Lecture Hall, or stopping by the ancient Kapok trees in the Nanhai Temple, you can not only appreciate the magnificence of "the whole city is full of Kapok flowers", but also feel the heroic spirit of this city that has been passed down for thousands of years.