Xunpu, Quanzhou: How Zanhua Headdresses Are Creating New Tourism Opportunities For Local Women

Published on August 22, 2025

In nan coastal colony of Xunpu, Quanzhou, nan once-quiet creation of Zanhua—lavish floral headdresses erstwhile confined to section ceremonies—has abruptly go nan centerpiece of nan location tourism boom, bringing caller power and income to nan sportfishing community. Originally a ceremonial marker of womanhood and section identity, nan headdresses person migrated to societal media feeds, and travelers from Beijing to Shenzhen now book their tickets pinch nan dream of wearing and photographing nan colourful arrangements against Xunpu’s sunlit quays. Village enterprising has met nan moment: mini shops tally by grandmother, mother, and girl teams now connection a package of Zanhua, delicate makeup, and scenic backdrops, turning nan age-old trade into a living, breathing economy.

Bai, a custodian of nan contented and a craftswoman since childhood, took nan first leap successful early 2023, opening a humble shop that quickly evolved into nan village’s busiest caller larboard of call. With girl Wu Shuchun answering bookings, nan brace now tally a five-table shop that operates from early ray to nan 9 o’clock dim of summertime nights. On bustling days, arsenic sportfishing boats drift successful pinch nan tide, they invited 50 to 60 guests, each of whom leaves pinch a battered straw sunhat and a caput crowned successful roses, orchids, and plum blossoms, destined for nan unreality of cameras that hover for illustration dragonflies supra nan colony lanes. The headdresses erstwhile reserved for section matrons now drape crossed nan shoulders of funny strangers, each tulle petal carrying a small of Xunpu’s sea-salt magic backmost to nan mainland.

Zanhua has agelong been woven into nan life of Xunpu, a colony that has gazed retired to nan seas of nan Maritime Silk Road for a millennium. Once a quiet signature of colony women, nan floral crown has now been brought backmost into view, reimagined for nan camera, nan passport, and nan fleeting moments of travel. As visitors quest for memories that consciousness some genuine and vividly editable, nan elemental enactment of affixing a wreath of blossoms and ribbons provides a span to nan past, framed by nan soft buzz of smartphones.

The caller surge successful liking for Zanhua floral headdresses has done much than tie feet to Xunpu; it has rewritten nan village’s financial story. Take nan Bais: wherever erstwhile they formed nets for fish, now they weave headdresses and guideline flower photograph tours. Their net person astir doubled. Xunpu now has astir 300 caller storefronts, each circulating wages, section crafts, and circuit tickets into nan village’s economy.

During nan precocious season, nan corporate footfall hits 20,000 arrivals each day, a stream of visitors that underpins nan caller tourism chapter. The shops’ tills are only nan first statement of nan harmony; guesthouses, thoroughfare stalls, and marketplace stalls blossom successful nan aforesaid breath, each caller task impervious that nan floral contented is now nan village’s living, breathing maturation engine.

The emergence of Zanhua craftsmanship successful Xunpu illustrates a wider displacement successful China’s recreation scene: a flourishing appetite for taste and heritage-based journeys. Visitors coming want much than selfies beside landmarks; they crave moments that embed them successful surviving customs. Zanhua delivers that connection, merging nan delicate accomplishment of accepted artisans pinch a modern thirst for difference. The mini coastal municipality has frankincense woven its intangible practice into nan cloth of modern travel, letting some nan aged and nan caller flourish broadside by side.

As appetite for taste recreation spreads, places for illustration Xunpu are leveraging their unique practice to tie a world audience. Tourists who erstwhile sought only views of mountains and rivers are now eager to beryllium beside a maestro painter, inhaling nan smell of caller clay, aliases to perceive nan stories that springiness a statue its soul. This displacement breathes caller life into once-vanishing crafts and ensures that nan wages of tourism provender straight into nan pockets of nan group who support those stories alive, proving that nan recreation manufacture tin nourish, not erode, nan places it journeys to.

Role of Government Support successful Tourism Development

Xunpu’s thriving Zanhua inclination owes overmuch to a coordinated touch from section leadership. Quanzhou’s territory authorities has championed a double vision: fostering tourism while safeguarding nan area’s ancient customs. By backing section artisans, nurturing family-run enterprises, and backing greenish tourism projects, nan authorities person woven economical maturation into nan very cloth of taste preservation.

Government finance has besides translated into smoother recreation paths. Upgraded carrier links, intelligibly marked routes, and well-staffed tourer accusation centers mean visitors tin easy travel from Xunpu to neighboring Fujian treasures. Together, these efforts fine-tune nan consciousness of spot and delight that travelers transportation home.

Looking to Tomorrow: Sustainable Growth successful Xunpu

The sky for Zanhua tourism successful Xunpu glows bright, buoyed by cooperative section firms, engaged government, and travelers keen to touch surviving history. With nan appetite for genuine taste encounters only swelling, Xunpu is good poised to radiance arsenic a surviving blueprint for taste tourism crossed China.

Melding section practice pinch modern tourism practices allows Xunpu to flourish arsenic a sustainable, economically move spot to visit. As liking successful Zanhua tourism expands, lasting advantages will travel to nan residents, translating into further employment, caller endeavor prospects, and nan safeguarding of surviving traditions for nan neighborhoods and for travelers who will get successful years to come.