The colorful rape flower field in Zifu village, Liandu district of Lishui, Zhejiang province. [Photo/WeChat Account: gh_2dd9138e31e1]

The colorful sea of rape flowers in Bihu town, Liandu district of Lishui, Zhejiang province has entered its best viewing period, capturing attention globally.

As a popular tourist destination, the rape flower field has attracted over 100,000 visits in just 20 days, boosting local businesses including catering, tourism, and sales of agricultural and sideline food.

The rape flower field in Zifu village of the town covers more than 24 hectares, with over 5.33 hectares dedicated to colorful rape flowers cultivated by Professor Zhou Weijun's team at Zhejiang University.

The team cultivated a number of new varieties of the rape flower, such as white, orange, pink, and purple, creating a colorful picture in the field. They also achieved multi-functional utilization of rapeseeds.

Compared with traditional yellow rape flowers, these varieties not only have advantages in appearance, but also feature long flowering periods, high anthocyanin content, and early blooming of several early maturing varieties.

"The land was nearly abandoned before. Due to its sandy property, only a few villagers planted on it," explained You Maowei, Party secretary of Tongxin village in the town. "Since we introduced the colorful rape flowers in cooperation with Zhou's team, we have witnessed landscape improvement as well as economic benefits."

"The rent of the land alone can increase the income of our village by nearly 260,000 yuan ($35,939.50) every year. The villagers also earn a salary by helping to grow rape flowers," added You.