Walking and Viewing the Hanzhong Rapeseed Flower Series One: Longting

Hanzhong rapeseed flowers are one of the four major rapeseed flower viewing spots in China (the other three are: Luoping in Yunnan, Wuyuan in Jiangxi, and Menyuan in Qinghai). In the springtime, the southern Shaanxi region of Hanzhong is full of vitality, with the fragrance of rapeseed flowers filling the air. Fields of golden rapeseed flowers bloom competitively: in front of houses, behind dwellings, by lakes, alongside rivers, next to roads, and across the countryside... they are everywhere. During the annual Hanzhong Rapeseed Flower Festival, we followed the Luoyun Outdoor group to head south to Hanzhong to enjoy the flowers, intentionally avoiding the heavily promoted main venue in Yang County and the popular routes and crowded viewing spots. Instead, we chose some rural routes in Yang County, Mian County, and Nanzheng District, walking and watching, stopping from time to time, to fully appreciate the sea of rapeseed flowers amidst the mountains, rivers, and fields of Hanzhong. Departing from Xi'an, we took the Xi-Han Expressway and exited at the Longting exit, where vast expanses of golden rapeseed flowers instantly came into view. Longting Town belongs to Yang County in Hanzhong and is the resting place of Cai Lun, the innovator of one of China's 'Four Great Inventions'—papermaking. It is also the land granted to Cai Lun.