A press conference on the first Hunan Oil-tea Camellia Festival was held on October 12. It announced that the festival is designated to be held every two years by the Hunan Provincial Department of Forestry and local governments, with the aim of promoting high-quality development of the oil-tea camellia industry. The decision was approved by the Hunan Provincial People's Government. This year the first Hunan Oil-tea Camellia Festival will take place in Qiyang City between November 15 and 16.

The theme of the festival is "developing oil-tea camellia industry to boost rural revitalization". Major events include the opening ceremony, field visits to Tangjiashan Oil-tea Camellia Cultural Park, a sales exhibition of oil-tea camellia products and machinery and scientific and technological achievements, a summit forum on the development of the oil-tea camellia industry, and a camellia oil-cooked food festival.

Qiyang has a long history of oil-tea camellia cultivation and boasts rich oil-tea camellia resources. It is known as the "natural oil depot" and the hometown of oil-tea camellia in China, and it is among the first batch of national oil-tea camellia industry demonstration bases, and a major camellia oil producer in Hunan Province. In addition, Qiyang has the world's largest single-area oil-tea camellia demonstration forest covering 100,000 mu (6,667 ha.). Currently, the oil-tea camellia forest area in Qiyang City spans 625,600 mu (41,706 ha.), with an annual camellia oil production of 15,000 tons and an annual output value of about 2 billion yuan.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn