A brief history of the development of International Plum Blossom Festival in Nanjing, China
(1996--2007)

Starting in spring 1996, International Plum Blossom Festival in Nanjing, China was the first large national tourist festive activity initiated by Nanjing People’s Government. Held regularly in the period between February and March each year, it constantly weeds through the old to bring forth the new with an increasing influence.

In 1998, the activity of “A mobile tour of festooned vehicles” was first incorporated into Plum Blossom Festival, immediately becoming a charming and flowing highlight during the festival and receiving extensive favorable comments from all walks of life. Since 1999, dozens of festooned vehicles are driven out of Nanjing for a mobile tour in such surrounding cities as Suzhou, Wuxi, Shanghai, Hefei and Hangzhou, etc., having greatly enhanced the reputation and influence of Plum Blossom Festival. In the same year, Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival was designated by National Administration of Tourism as an important annual tourist festive activity. Plum Blossom Festival exactly witnesses plum blossom in its gorgeous prime, with fragrance filling the air to the full, white plum blossom appearing like snow, green plum blossom looking like jadeite and red plum blossom seeming fire-like, good enough to make tourists feel intoxicated.?

With prominence given to the theme and its distinctive features, Plum Blossom Festival each year also incorporates various cultural activities based on “Plum Blossom”, including performances of culture and art, exchanges of experiences in writing on plum blossom and photographic contest in addition to economic and trade activities which are all on the basis of “Plum Blossom” for making contacts and friends. Along with the gradual establishment of brands related to Plum Blossom Festival, all other major scenic areas and citizen squares also get involved in succession, becoming sub-venues of Plum Blossom Festival, such as Pearl Spring Tourist Holiday-Making Area, Gulin Park, Xuanwu Park and Fujiabian in Lishui county, etc. By 2007, there were as many as 27 sub-venues of Plum Blossom Festival. A series of sub-venue activities, such as Plum Blossom Festival in Lishui county, Festival of Spring-Outing at Niushou Mountain in Yuhua District, Exhibition and Sales Service Month of Plum Blossom Festival and Tourist Fair of the Yangtze Delta, demonstrate the charm, long history and culture as well as rapid development of ancient Nanjing in an all-round way and from multi-angles with all its splendor one climax after another. Through 12-year development, International Plum Blossom Festival in Nanjing, China has become a world-famous activity integrating tourism, culture, commerce, trade, rich natural resources as well as profound history.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 1996：

As the first Plum Blossom Festival in Nanjing, it was sponsored by Nanjing People’s Government and co-sponsored by Nanjing Tourist Bureau and the Administration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum. It was then aimed at making full use of plum blossom as the city flower of Nanjing so as to promote tourist products of local features at home and abroad, give prominence to the image of Nanjing in energetically developing tourism, demonstrating achievements of Nanjing in urban construction, expanding the influence of Nanjing and enhancing the reputation of Nanjing.
Lasting for 20 days, this Plum Blossom Festival started on February 28 and came to an end on March 18. A
committee of preparatory work was specially set up with vice mayor Luo Zhijun as the director in charge of organizing this activity and coordinating relations of all aspects. The organizing committee had an office specifically responsible for preparations of different activities. The opening ceremony of Plum Blossom Festival took place on the big lawn of Plum Blossom Hill, with relevant leaders of National Administration of Tourism, Jiangsu Province and Nanjing as well as some Chinese and foreign guests invited. During the festival, a meeting of writers admiring plum blossom was held in Shouxing (Longevity) Palace on Plum Blossom Hill and performance of water-borne model airplanes was put on at Zixiahu Park, in addition to a series of activities such as photographic contest and salons of culture and art.

Plum Blossom Festival in 1996 greatly enhanced the reputation of Nanjing and its influence at home and abroad. According to statistics, 24 Chinese and foreign media attended this Plum Blossom Festival with 300000 Chinese and foreign tourists and guests, including leaders of National Administration of Tourism and related departments of Jiangsu province and Nanjing as well as Nanjing-stationed academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions, representatives of business agencies in Nanjing and some foreign friends. Plum Blossom Festival in 1996 filled in the blank of specialized tourist festive activities in Nanjing, enriched the content of the structure of tourist products in Nanjing and also laid a foundation for making a success of the Plum Blossom Festival in 1997. Plum Blossom Festival in 1996 was supported by related departments such as Price-Setting Bureau, Bureau of Urban Environment, Public Security Bureau and Gardening Bureau as well as districts concerned, hence having further stimulated the awareness of tourism run by the whole society and public participation in tourism. This Plum Blossom Festival not only enriched the cultural life of local citizens in their spare time, but also fired the enthusiasm of all local citizens in their love for Nanjing and achieved desirable social and economic results through publicity to plum blossom as the city flower of Nanjing.?

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 1997：

Lasting for 20 days, this Plum Blossom Festival started on February 28 and came to an end on March 18.
An organizing committee was specially set up with vice mayor Luo Zhijun as the director. There was an office in charge of the implementation of the entire activity.

Plum Blossom Festival in 1997 was marked by great magnificence, various forms, rich contents and novel themes. Apart from the opening ceremony at Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue and a series of activities of culture and art, some activities of special features were also carried out at such sub-venues as Pearl Spring and Xuanwu Park, etc. During the festival, a variety of theme-based activities were also conducted such as Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing, Regional Tourist Coordination Association in Nanjing, Nanjing-Taipei Seminar on the Prospects of Tourism and Nanjing International Seminar on Plum-Blossom Culture, etc. Besides, special audio-visual programs were produced through cooperation among Nanjing, “Zhengda comprehensive art” of CCTV and “Jinling flavor” of Nanjing TV Station.

Characterized by combining tourism with scenic spots as well as tourist source with resources, with “Plum blossom as the link as well as economy and trade as the main role”，this festival devoted itself to further tapping potential, making meticulous decoration, stressing cultural connotation, strengthening publicity via scenic spots to display the outlook of Nanjing, hence having achieved remarkable social and economic results. According to statistics, during the festival, there were over 400000 tourists, showing an increase of 33% over that in 1996. Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing attracted more than 1000 representatives in tourist circle from eight provinces and one municipality in China, promoted over 80 tourist routes, led to the signing of over 600 agreements among various travel agencies and organized as many as 40000 people in contract-based tourist groups, having achieved obvious success. The convocation of Nanjing-Taipei Seminar on the Prospects of Tourism greatly reinforced the enthusiasm and confidence of Taiwan travel agents in opening tourist markets in mainland China. The establishment of Regional Tourist Coordination Association in Nanjing not only served as supplement of tourist resources between Nanjing and its surrounding areas, but also realized the unification of tourist source markets and promoted the development of Nanjing tourist economy in the direction of regional integration. “Fragrant plum blossom and spring charm” produced by “Jinling flavor” of Nanjing TV Station and special programs of “Zhengda comprehensive art” of CCTV further enhanced the influence of Plum Blossom Festival in Nanjing, putting a perfect end to Plum Blossom Festival in 1997.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 1998：

Lasting for 22 days, this festival coming to an end on March 20 saw its opening ceremony on Plum Blossom Hill of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum on February 28. An organizing committee with vice mayor Luo Zhijun as the director was specially set up for it. There was an office in charge of the implementation of the entire activity. Plum Blossom Festival in 1998 was taken by National Administration of Tourism as one of national key activities entitled “1998 urban and rural tour in China”. Nanjing Municipal Government specially adjusted and augmented the organizing committee for it and meticulously planned a series of activities with special features. While keeping some traditional activities such as Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing and exhibition of calligraphic works and paintings based on plum blossom, it added a series of new activities. The mobile tour of festooned vehicles became the biggest one of its kind in the history of Nanjing, as it was joined by festooned vehicles from 18 districts and suburban counties as well as related departments and tourist enterprises, in addition to plum blossom-based photography of Hong Kong and Taiwan, plum blossom-based exhibition of calligraphic works and paintings, exchanges of experiences in calligraphic works and paintings, Taiwan travel agents in investigation groups admiring plum blossom, welcome-ceremony for tourists on special “Peace-bird” trains coming to admire plum blossom from Ningbo, one hundred couples planting plum trees, “100-meter scroll” calligraphic works and paintings by children, Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing and plum blossom-based bonsai art exhibition, etc. At the same time, colorful activities also took place at Pearl Spring Tourist Holiday-Making Area, Gulin Park, Jiuhuashan Park, Qingliangshan Park and Fujiabian in Lishui county.

Plum Blossom Festival in 1998 attracted guests from nearly 40 countries and regions, having broken the limitation of six urban districts of Nanjing in the past and produced a nice influence in society. Meanwhile, online publicity was first applied, having further extended the range of publicity to Plum Blossom Festival. This festival received over 500000 Chinese and foreign tourists, having achieved desirable economic results.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 1999：

Lasting for 20 days, this festival started on February 28 and came to an end on March 18. Boai Square of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum witnessed the opening ceremony attended by Chen Huanyou, Wang Xialin, Wang Rongbing, Duan Xushen and Wang Hongmin respectively as provincial and municipal leaders. Compared with previous plum blossom festivals, this one was not only marked by a larger scale, higher standards and a greater influence, but also better demonstration of integrating with open economy, with economic growth through expanding domestic needs and with mobilizing people of the whole city to work hard for “another three years” as the purpose, having achieved desirable results.

During the festival, a series of activities were successively carried out such as a mobile tour of festooned vehicles, a meeting for stating the investment environment in Nanjing, an exhibition of famous and excellent commodities in Nanjing, Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing, Jinling Lantern Show and plum blossom-based bonsai exhibition, etc. according to statistics, Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue received hundreds and thousands of tourists. The meeting for stating the investment environment in Nanjing attracted over businessmen from 17 countries and regions. Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing, having broken the concept of “surrounding areas”, attracted more than 1000 representatives form over 30 cities respectively in 01 provinces and municipalities including Lhasa in Tibetan autonomous region, Beijing, Kunming in Yunnan province and Sanya in Hainan province.

This festival produced an important influence on tourism in Nanjing and even the economic construction of the whole city. First, it fully demonstrated achievements of Nanjing in taking on a big new look in three years, having further fostered the new image of Nanjing as a whole. Second, it stimulated local citizens in their care for flowers, love for Nanjing and passion for building Nanjing. Since Plum Blossom Festival in 1999 took place at a time when Nanjing began to build its self with a plan of another three years, making a success of this festival ??was of important significance in firing local citizens their passion for building Nanjing in following three years so as to make great changes in this city. Third, it promoted the concerted development of spiritual civilization and material civilization in Nanjing. As shown by practice, plum blossom festival is not only an important impetus to the development of material civilization in Nanjing, but also an important achievement in the development of spiritual civilization in this city.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2000：

Starting on February 28, this festival came to an end on March 18. The square of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum witnessed the opening ceremony attended by main leaders of National Administration of Tourism, Hui Liangyu, secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu province, Chen Huanyou, chairman of Provincial People’s Congress, Cao Keming, vice secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu province and chairman of Provincial Political Consultative Conference, Ji Yunshi, governor of Jiangsu province.

This was the first plum blossom festival in the new millennium in Nanjing. In order to further display the
image of Nanjing, promote economic development and stimulate all local citizens to get into the new millennium with a full spirit, this plum blossom festival earnestly summed up previous experiences in running this festival and kept traditional activities? popular among the public and all walks of life such as the opening ceremony, the mobile tour of festooned? vehicles, Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing, exhibition of famous and excellent commodities in Nanjing and exhibition of plum blossom-based bonsai exhibition, etc. while having added some new cultural and recreational activities such as the meeting of stating the investment environment in Nanjing and Meigang as a sub-venue in Yuhua district.

Plum Blossom Festival in 2000 was characterized by a larger scale, higher standards, extensive range of publicity and strong internationalization, having reached the expected result of building up the momentum through the festival, vitalizing tourism through the momentum and making the city prosperous through tourism. According to statistics, during the festival, Nanjing received 1.2 million tourists, showing an increase of over 15% as against that in previous years. The meeting of stating the investment environment in Nanjing attracted over 160 businessmen from 18 countries and regions such as Finland, Italy, Britain and France as well as promoted more than 30 projects for brining in business and investment.

Apart from having meticulously arranged the opening ceremony, this festival also invited news media at all levels from the central government, Jiangsu province and Nanjing to report on Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival in an all round way. With this festival as an opportunity, publicity was given to urban construction, economic development, investment environment and tourism from many angles, having achieved quite ideal results. During the festival, the tourist bureau and bureau of commerce conducted extensive publicity and education based on quality service, having enhanced the quality of all service industries. This not only promoted the development of material civilization, but also gave an impetus to the development of spiritual civilization of Nanjing. Plum Blossom Festival in 2000 made a success of giving prominence to four aspects, i.e. prominence to brand awareness, prominence to economy and trade, prominence to the awareness of innovation and prominence to the awareness of entire publicity.

Through five-year meticulous operation, Nanjing International Plum Blossom Festival developed from“specialization” to “comprehensiveness”，from “ localization” to “nationalization”， from “China” to the “world”，having won universal acclaim and concerted approval of all walks of life. This festival also gave us some enlightenment：making the festival as the link to energetically develop tourism is an effective way for enlivening urban economy；building up the momentum with the festival to reinforce the vigor of the city is an important means of promoting rapid development of spiritual civilization in the city；elevating fame with the festival to expand the influence of Nanjing is an important measure to enhance the reputation of Nanjing.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2001：

Starting on February 24, this festival came to an end on March 18. The theme of this activity was “New Nanjing in the new century——smile brought to the world”. Boai Square of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum saw the joyful parade of festooned vehicles and opening ceremony attended by main leaders of national Administration of Tourism, Hui Liangyu, secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu province, Chen Huanyou, chairman of Provincial People’s Congress, Cao Keming, vice secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu province and chairman of Provincial Political Consultative Conference, Ji Yunshi, governor of Jiangsu province, etc.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum and Plum Blossom hill were the main venues while there were sub-venues at Yuhuatai, Pearl Spring, Gulin Park, Fujiabian in Lishui county, major scenic spots all over Nanjing, citizen squares and places for admiring plum blossom in various suburban counties. This festival adopted a mechanism of market-oriented operation on a trial basis, carrying out Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing, a series of exhibitions and sales services, as well as activities of tourism, commerce, trade, culture and recreation such as advertising, broadcasting and showing the urban image of Nanjing, etc.

Compared with previous plum blossom festivals, this festival was marked by remarkable innovation in activities. For example, a large mobile tour featured by singing and dancing of one hundred performers was characterized by novel innovation and more participation of people as the first experience in Nanjing and even in Jiangsu province, creating quite a hit. With regard to operation, this festival further reinforced the concept of “The festival is run, attended and joyfully celebrated by people of the whole city”. Efforts were made to make full use of the brand advantages accumulated over the past plum blossom festivals, give play to the role of tourism as an impetus and mobilize all industries to get hold of business opportunities during the festival. With the major role of Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue guaranteed, endeavors were exerted to enrich all sub-venues, particularly activities conducted at sub-venues in suburban counties such as Fujiabian in Lishui county.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2002：

Starting on February 28, this festival came to an end on March 18. The theme of this activity was “The flower of Nanjing and the journey of folk art”. Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum and Plum Blossom Hill were main venues while there were sub-venues at various major scenic spots and citizen squares in Nanjing as well as in suburban counties. Boai Square of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum witnessed the opening ceremony attended by leaders of National Administration of Tourism and representatives taking part in national conference of excellent tourist cities as well as main leaders of Jiangsu province and Nanjing.

The mobile tour of festooned vehicles in 2002 gave prominence to the theme of “Tour of folk art”. Festooned vehicles not only toured on all major avenues of Nanjing, but also in Suzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Yangzhou, etc. Besides, during the festival, a joyful festival on Hunan Road, a large soiree of fire-works, a plum-blossom lantern show in Fuzimiao, an exhibition of plum-blossom bonsai, an exhibition of plum blossom-based photography and a large activity of culture and art named “The charm of flowers” at Meigang, Yuhuatai took place at the same time, in addition to other over twenty kinds of activities such as the premier distribution of the disc entitled “Nanjing, China”, the first Mucheng tourist festival at Chaotian Palace, extreme activities on Jiuhua Mountain, admiring plum blossom at Fujiabian in Lishui county as well as exhibition and sales of commodities during the Plum Blossom Festival in series.

These activities further strengthened the concept of “An urban festival, public participation and celebration”. With the major role of Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue guaranteed, efforts were made to have enriched programs at various sub-venues, promoted the development of tourism in suburban counties and brought this hallmark activity in Nanjing to a new climax. The festival was interviewed by nearly 30 news media from over ten provinces and municipalities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Kunming. Among them, quite a few newspapers acclaimed this festival as truly playing the role of “displaying the entire image of Nanjing and enhancing its reputation” and making a good start in “bringing in investment from outside and promoting the development of the entire economy of Nanjing”. “Plum-blossom economy” began to take shape.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2003：

Lasting for 22 days, this festival started on February 22 and came to an end on March 15. The theme of this activity was “Tourism makes economy more prosperous and life more beautiful”. Wutaishan Gymnasium witnessed the opening ceremony attended by Gu Zhaoxi, vice director of National Administration of Tourism, Li Yuanchao, secretary of Party Committee of Jiangsu province, main leaders of four major leading-bodies of Jiangsu province and Nanjing as well as related leaders from Zhejiang province and Shanghai.

The festival was marked by various excellent activities, i.e. over twenty kinds of activities such as the opening of the Scenic Park of Yangshan Stone-Tablet for the Ming Tomb, a lantern show at Fuzimiao, Plum Blossom Festival in Lishui county, Tourist Festival of “New spring joy of families on the river”, the first Festival of Tourist Culture in Baixia District and the second “Mucheng festival” , Spring-Outing Festival at Niushou Mountain in Yuhua District, Exhibition and Sales Service Month of Plum Blossom Festival, activities for bringing in business and investment, Tourist Fair of Surrounding Areas of Nanjing and Carnival at Xuanwu Park, displaying charming natural sceneries, long and profound history and culture as well as rapid development of urban appearance of ancient Nanjing in an all round way and from many angles.

Plum Blossom Festival in 2003 had four obvious features：First, major activities were incorporated with the mechanism of market-oriented operation, i.e. it was applied for the first time at the opening ceremony and during carnival. The festival was planned by major creators of “The same song” of CCTV, leading to desirable economic and social results. Second, the mobile tour of festooned vehicles had a clearer objective. While attracting people and giving publicity to Nanjing, it also promoted gigantic development of tourism in suburban counties of Nanjing. Third, economy, trade and tourism developed together. While stressing the reinforcement of integrating with economy and trade, more emphasis was laid on developing tourist markets abroad. Fourth, publicity to the festival was comprehensive and in place, i.e. news publicity of multi-media, entire process and three dimensions was adopted in adherence to the theme of the activity and emphasis on publicizing tourist resources in Nanjing.?

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2004：

Lasting for 23 days, this festival started on February 21 and came to an end on March 14. The theme of this activity was “Joyful tour together in the capital of universal love”. The opening ceremony was attended by Li Yuanchao, Liang Baohua, Zhao Shaoling, Xu Zhonglin and Ren Yanshen as provincial leaders as well as Luo Zhijun, Jiang Hongkun, Wang Haoliang and Chen Jiabao as municipal leaders in addition to main leaders of National Administration of Tourism.

One climax after another during the festival, there were such activities as the Lantern Show at Fuzimiao of Nanjing, Plum Blossom Festival in Lishui county, Tourist Festival named “New spring joy of families on the river”, Mobile Tour of Festooned Vehicles, Nanjing Tourist Fair of the Yangtze Delta, Exhibition and Sales Service Month of Plum Blossom Festival and activities for bringing business and investment. Colorful and splendid activities served to foster a healthy and civilized image of Nanjing and promoted the variety and prosperity of cultural life of local citizens.

Plum Blossom Festival in 2004 had four distinctive features：First, market-oriented operation was actively promoted with remarkable achievements. As this festival was themed as “Tour of common-folk life”， Suguo Super-Market Co., Ltd. was chosen as a financial sponsor, resulting in the slogan of “Chinese Suguo/common-folk life”. As a result, leadership of the government, enterprise participation and market-oriented operation took place. Second, culture and tourism developed, gaining benefit through coordination. During the festival, based on plum-blossom culture and culture of “World cultural heritage”, the main venue carried out a series of cultural activities characterized by “Admiring beautiful plum blossom and appreciating world cultural heritage”. Third, coordinated development of tourism achieved gratifying results. During the festival, exhibition and sales service month and activities for bringing in business and investment were carried out to further promote domestic needs and development of open economy in the city. Fourth, publicity was comprehensive and in place. The emphasis of publicity during this festival was laid on “Nanjing, the capital of universal love”. Newspapers, broadcast, TV and Internet were actively integrated to emphatically publicize tourist resources and urban image of Nanjing.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2005：

The year 2005 was the tenth anniversary of Plum Blossom Festival. Lasting for 34 days, this festival started on February 10 and came to an end on March 15. The theme of this activity was “Admiring plum blossom, tour and welcome”.

Combining “In memory of 600th anniversary of the first voyage by Zheng He and his fleet to foreign countries” and “Joyfully welcoming the grand Tenth National Games” as two major themes, this festival saw a series of activities of tourism, commerce, trade and culture in different forms. During the festival, there were such activities as the opening ceremony for admiring plum blossom on Plum Blossom Hill, live transmission and broadcast of “Flowers blossoming in China· Red plum blossom beautifying Nanjing”, Nanjing Tourist Fair of the Yangtze Delta, Lantern Show at Fuzimiao, Plum Blossom Festival in Lishui county, Tourist Festival of New Spring Joy of Families on the River, Tourist Fashion Festival on Hunan Road as well as Exhibition and Sales Service Month of Plum Blossom Festival, etc. During the festival, the peak volume of tourists on Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue reached over 30000 daily.

This festival mainly had several features as follows：First, a special eco-tourist route named “Admiring plum blossom and enjoying spring-outing” was energetically promoted. With the opening ceremony for admiring plum blossom, the ticket for admiring plum blossom at 15 Yuan for each tourist was set as well as publicity to and marketing of tourist-source markets around Nanjing were reinforced for giving prominence to eco-tourist brands. Second, channels for publicity in and cooperation with foreign countries were expanded, i.e. travel agents of USA, Britain, Japan and Malaysia were invited, and a number of activities for exchanges of Chinese and foreign culture and art were carried out. In cooperation with MAP, a foreign-funded magazine in Nanjing, the activity of “Foreigners living in Nanjing and those coming from foreign countries admiring plum blossom” as the theme was conducted. Plum Blossom Hill as the main venue invited Far-East Red Flag Song and Dance Ensemble of Russia, a Japanese ikebana art delegation and a big-drum alliance band from Fukuoka, Japan to take part in exhibition and performances. Third, Plum Blossom Festival was truly made the festival of local citizens. Quite many measures benefiting local citizens and tourists were adopted, e.g. distributing admission tickets for the opening ceremony of Nanjing Tourist Fair of the Yangtze Delta free of charge for the first time, presenting tickets for performances free of charge in cooperation with “Jinling Evening Newspaper” and the singing contest for the public named “Singing praise of Plum Blossom Hill”, having greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of local citizens in participating in the festival. Fourth, publicity was conducted in a deeper and more complete way, i.e. actively integrating newspapers, broadcast, TV and Internet to report throughout the process in a three-dimensional manner. The organizing committee erected several huge public-benefit placards at such places with more pedestrians as Gulou Square and Lukou Airport. Efforts were also made to reinforce cooperation with media of the central government, other provinces and municipalities while strengthening Internet publicity. Besides, the festival authorities cooperated with the web of Nanjing people’s government for the first time, having opened the webpage with “Ten Years of Plum Blossom Festival” as the special theme, providing people with various information on Plum Blossom Festival in a timely and all-round way.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2006：

Starting on February 24, this festival came to an end on March 20. the theme of this activity was “Admiring 10000 plum-blossom trees and carrying forward the spirit of universal love”. Plum-Blossom Valley of scenic Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum witnessed the opening ceremony attended by Zhang Xiqin, vice director of National Administration of Tourism, Sun Zhijun, head of Publicity Department of Jiangsu Party Committee, Luo Zhijun, secretary of Nanjing Party Committee, Zhang Weiguo, vice governor of Jiangsu province, Jiang Hongkun, mayor of Nanjing, Lu Jun, vice chairman of Provincial Political Consultative Conference, Shao Hua, chairman of Photographer Association of China, etc.
Scenic Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum underwent great changes thanks to the project for comprehensively dealing with its environment. In particular, newly built Plum-Blossom Valley Park in the south of Plum Blossom Hill was merged with Plum Blossom Hill, covering an area of over 120 hectares. The number of plum blossom trees increased from 15000 to 35000 while the variety from over 230 to more than 300, making Plum Blossom Hill “Number One Plum Blossom Hill in China” in a true sense. During the festival, there were also such activities as Nanjing Tourist Fair of the Yangtze Delta and one hundred top Chinese travel agencies having concerted experiences in Nanjing for the first time, etc. Besides, integrating “2006 Rural tour in China” as the them of tourist publicity set by National Administration of Tourism and “New countryside, new tour and new customs” as the slogan of tourist publicity, festival authorities organized joyful tour in beautiful countryside to further promote the development of tourism in suburban counties of Nanjing.

There were also colorful activities at sub-venues, e.g. “Opening ceremony for 2006 Chinese rural tour in Nanjing and the fourth tourist festival of new spring joy of families on the river” taking place in Jianye district with “Folk customs and joy” as the theme, the Fourth Tourist Fashion Festival on Hunan Road taking place in Gulou district with “Experiencing splendor” as the theme, the Award-Granting Ceremony for Star Tourist Enterprises and the Opening Ceremony of Tourist Publicity, Marketing and Consultancy Month of the Yangtze Delta taking place in Baixia District, the Festival of Leisure, Fashion and Tourism taking place in Xuanwu District, Lantern Show at Fuzimiao in Qinhuai District, the Festival of Spring-Outing named “Spring of Niushou Mountain” in Yuhuatai District, “The Fourth Convergence of Camping Tents of China ” on Bagua Islet in Qixia District and the Festival for Displaying Folk Culture named “100-Year Gaochun” in Gaochun county, etc.

The most remarkable feature of this festival was greater internationalization. In addition to travel agents from southeast Asia taking part in Plum Blossom Festival and activities of tourist fair, there were also travel agents coming afar from other 15 countries and regions in Europe, America, Africa and Australia, etc. The scale of this festival and the number of participants both exceeded those of previous plum blossom festivals. Cooperation between authorities of this festival and news media became constantly reinforced，leading to successive activities such as selection through evaluation for “the city-card of Nanjing”, solicitation for the mascot of 2006 plum blossom festival, contest for selecting “Little angels of plum blossom”, solicitation for ten classic tourist routes of “Touring in Nanjing to the full”，hence doing a very good job in publicizing Plum Blossom Festival which built a big stage for the publicity to the image of urban tourism in Nanjing as “The capital of universal love. With emphatic publicity to Chinese and foreign travel agents with regard to many new sceneries, new routes and new programs in Nanjing during this festival, foreigner and Chinese from other places obtained an opportunity to get to know new windows and new highlights of this city.

Brief introduction to Plum Blossom Festival in 2007：

Starting on February 18, the festival came to an end on March 18. The opening ceremony and large-scale singing and dancing performances named “Spring over Plum Blossom Hill” took place at Plum-Blossom Valley of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum. The theme of this activity was “Admiring 10000 plum-blossom trees and carrying forward the spirit of universal love”, fully demonstrating new achievements and new highlights in comprehensively dealing with the environment of the mausoleum, protection of cultural relics of the Ming Tomb and integration of resources as well as further enhancing the influence of Plum Blossom Festival as a famous brand.

While comprehensively dealing with the environment of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, the Administration of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum emphatically started the activity of establishing “A national AAAAA tourist area” and “A civilized national scenic tourist area” in 2007, leading to great changes in its service facilities and scenic outlook. During this festival, numerous gorgeous flowers in Plum-Blossom Valley of Plum Blossom Hill as well as tender and high-quality service in the scenic area amazed countless tourists.

Altogether 18 kinds of festive activities were carried out during the festival, chiefly including singing and dancing, lectures on the culture and knowledge of plum blossom, exhibition of calligraphic works and paintings of the Ming dynasty collected by Taipei Palace Museum, in addition to activities actively attended by people of all walks of life, such as tour of little angels entitled “Holding Hands on Plum Blossom Hill” and the signing activity related to “I choose plum blossom as national flower”, etc.

This festival had such main features as follows: First, bustling activities initiated an astonishing start. On February 20, when all other scenic spots were silent, Plum Blossom Hill took the lead in carrying out such bustling activities as singing and dancing named “A joyful Chinese year” and a mobile tour of festooned vehicles entitled “Charming and eye-catching plum blossom”. Second, there were various cultural activities. Compared with the past, the plum—blossom theme of this festival was culturally profound in particular. High-quality new books and exhibitions as well as activities of high taste revealed the unique cultural disposition of the scenic area to the full. Third, public participation-oriented activities made this festival a “Festival for local citizens”. During the festival, the signing activity of “I choose plum blossom as the national flower” was very popular among people. Tourists signed their names one after another on the “Signing wall” near the stage of Plum Blossom Hill, expressing their love for plum blossom.

During this festival, both publicity and marketing proceeded at the same time to promote the strategy of macro-tourism marked by “Integration of scenic spots, combination of media and linked electronic network”, having produced very good results in terms of developing tourist markets and directly stimulating the increase of the number of tourists at the tourist destination. During this festival, the entire scenic area was permeated with joy, peace, safety and order with an unprecedented number of tourists.