Vlogger showcases rare wild flowers in SW China’s Xizang

A set of videos showcasing a variety of rare wild flowers in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region has recently become an internet sensation.

Zheng Chuanjia, a photography enthusiast and a vlogger currently living in the autonomous region’s Nyingchi city, has received nearly 400,000 thumb-ups from users on the Chinese online video-sharing platform Bilibili for hundreds of his videos on Xizang’s rare flowers.

Photo taken by Zheng Chuanjia, a photography enthusiast and a vlogger, shows blooming flowers in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (yangtse.com/courtesy of the interviewee)

Zheng, 31, is from Zunyi city in southwest China’s Guizhou Province and works as a chef in Nyingchi. Several years ago, he came to work in Xizang and started taking photos of the beautiful scenery in the autonomous region in his spare time.

“During the process, I came across some plants I had never seen before. So I took photos of them and asked locals about the plants,” Zheng said, adding that he knew that some of the plants are especially rare. “I gradually became interested in rare plants on the plateau,” the young man said.

Photo taken by Zheng Chuanjia, a photography enthusiast and a vlogger, shows blooming flowers in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (yangtse.com/courtesy of the interviewee)

Zheng said he began to upload his videos of the rare plants on short video platforms inspired by one of his friends. In July 2020, he shared a video of rheum nobile, a species of rhubarb in the family Polygonaceae that grows in Mainling county and Nang county in Xizang. He explained that the plant blooms once in even decades and its flowering stems can grow about 2 meters high.

The video soon fanned the curiosity of some netizens, which encouraged him to shoot more videos of the species and flowers of other plants on the plateau, including blossoms of alpine azalea, snow lotus, and Gentiana scabra.

Zheng said that what impressed him most was the journey for recording videos of snow lotus in Lhozhag county, Shannan city, Xizang. He and his girlfriend Hou Yuhan traveled about 500 kilometers by motorcycle to the county from Nyingchi, and captured photos of the plant at an altitude of 5,300 meters.

Zheng was keen on Meconopsis, a genus of flowering plants in the poppy family. There are 49 Meconopsis varieties worldwide and 38 of them are found in China, most of which are in Xizang. “The species only survives in high altitude areas and has blue flowers. I was astonished by the attractive blue flowers when I saw them for the first time,” the man said.

Over the past years, Zheng has traveled to several cities in Xizang, including Lhasa, Shannan, and Shigatse, to take photos of wild flowers. He is gratified to see that many plants have been put under protection in Xizang.

Photo taken by Zheng Chuanjia shows a blooming rheum nobile, a species of rhubarb in the family Polygonaceae, in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (yangtse.com/courtesy of the interviewee)

According to Zheng, filming flowers is his hobby, but the happiest thing was that he found true love during the process. Zheng’s girlfriend, who once worked in Beijing, likes traveling and is interested in Xizang. She occasionally watched Zheng’s videos of wild flowers and asked him about traveling in the autonomous region. They gradually became more familiar with each other. In March 2021, Hou went on a trip to Nyingchi, and Zheng served as her guide, leading her to enjoy peach blossoms in the city, which is known for its peach blossom tourism and culture festival. During the journey, they found that they were congenial companions and their friendship blossomed.

“I will capture footage of more rare wild flowers on the plateau and showcase the unique beauty of Xizang,” Zheng said.

Zheng Chuanjia takes photos of flowers in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (yangtse.com/courtesy of the interviewee)

Photo taken by Zheng Chuanjia shows blooming flowers of Meconopsis, a genus of flowering plants in the poppy family, in southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region. (yangtse.com/courtesy of the interviewee)