The Yulan flower, classified as Michelia alba, is a member of the Magnolia family and commonly referred to as the Spring-Greeting Flower or the Mulan flower. ?It is native to China, India, Java, and the Philippines. The Yulan is an evergreen tree that grows to between ten and twenty meters tall. According to The Illustrated Ornamental Plants of Taiwan, it is distinguished by “its high leaf venation density, and mild sweet scent, suitable for refining essences.” The magnolia flower, commonly referred to as Yulan, grows on a woody plant stem and the flower has a texture similar to that of an orchid.

The Yulan has been appreciated and cultivated in China for more than two thousand five hundred years. During the Warring States Period, the renowned poet Qu Yuan, wrote in Li Sao (The Lament), “Dew from magnolia leaves I drank at dawn, at eve for food were aster petals borne.” The ancient Chinese welcomed and honored the Yulan as a member of the “Eight Famous Garden Flowers” when it joined the Chinese flowering crab apple, the peony, the sweet osmanthus, the cuizhu, the bird of paradise flower, the plum blossom, and the orchid. The Yulan and plum blossom were the favorites among ancient Chinese gentlemen and scholars as they were revered and acknowledged for their fearlessness of the cold; their inclination to bloom with a single blossom per branch; and their quiet elegance.

Historical records, dating to 1661, show that the Yulan was introduced to Taiwan from southern China and although the flower grows throughout the island, there are concentrated pockets of cultivation in central and southern Taiwan. Chiayi and Pingtung have proclaimed the Yulan as the county’s official flower. The Chiayi County Hall at one time systematically rewarded local farmers for cultivating Yulan magnolias and thus made them an important regional economic product.
Yulan magnolias bloom in white, yellow, pink, and violet tones while most of those grown in Taiwan bloom in either yellow or white. When the white Yulan magnolias are in full bloom, the trees look as if thousands of tiny white Jade wine glasses were perched upon the branches.?

The Yulan has long been planted in gardens and temples because of its pleasing fragrance. To this day, the imperial garden of the Summer Palace, that was originally created during the Qing Dynasty in Beijing, boasts some of the most spectacular Yulan scenery. The Summer Palace represents a pinnacle in Chinese-style gardens and it is here that the Yulan was first introduced from southern China. It is claimed that Emperor Chien-lung and his mother were so enamored by these precious blossoms, that appear as white as jade and are scented like a sweet orchid, that the Yulan were widely planted. With the arrival of spring each year in March and April, the sea of Yulan blossoms that burst forth in the garden attracts large crowds of visitors still today.

Although Taiwan may not have the number of opulent gardens showcasing the beauty of the Yulan magnolia, its popularity has never been doubted. In the past, Taiwanese women would place these flowers in their hair or pin them to their clothing, to serve as both as an ornament and a perfume. Many consider the Yulan to be the most beautiful flower in Taiwan because of its inseparable history, both in terms of lifestyle and its emotional impact. Lu Her-jo, considered by many to be the foremost writer in Taiwanese literature, used the magnolia flower as a metaphor for Taiwan’s traditional culture and human kindness in his book Yulan Flower.

The Yulan is one of a few flowers that has not been mainstreamed into the wholesale flower market although occasionally they can be found at certain wholesale markets, like Taipei’s Neihu Flower Market. However, the supply is unsteady and the volume generally low. The sale and distribution of the Yulan magnolia is organized and regulated directly by the farmers and wholesalers. It is the farmers and wholesalers who determine the value and establish a price by weight for the Yulan, while retailers make sales based on the number of buds per strand. While there is quite a lot of profit to be made by selling these flowers, unfortunately not everyone involved shares the benefits equitably.

According to field studies conducted in the 70s among the farmers, wholesalers and vendors, Yulan production has continued to be erratic in spite of various cultivation techniques and a desire for greater product yield. As farmers cultivated each new area and production potential grew, so did the scale of market demand. In the 80s, there were five wholesalers in northern Taiwan with each having from dozens to hundreds of retailers. In the beginning the sales channels were limited and the flowers were oftentimes delivered by train or bus. Nowadays, farmers and wholesalers routinely work directly with transporters who deliver shipments of flowers in the dead of the night to various distribution centers. The most common distribution centers are located around Taipei’s Main Railway Station, beneath the Jiangguo Expressway at Minchuang East Road and at the Zhongshan Football Stadium.

Yulan magnolias thrive in an environment that is warm and wet with plenty of sunlight where temperatures range between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius. They also stand up to cold weather well. Taiwan’s Yulan nurseries are primarily located in the villages of Tianwei and Yungchin in Changhua. In the past, the nurseries located in the southern and western parts of Taiwan covered a vast geographic region and produced a large number of flowers. However, with a decrease in demand in most of the major metropolitan areas, these nurseries have grown smaller and the farmers now produce fewer flowers. Most of Taiwan’s Yulan magonolia farmers use grafting and layering as the main nursery cultivation techniques.

The magnolia bud requires a lot of sunlight and will not bloom if there is insufficient light. After successfully modifying the genetics of the Yulan in 1995 in the village of Yenpu in Pingtung the flowers now grow larger with a richer fragrance. However, the business of producing Yulan magnolias is still highly seasonal and if the flowers are over-harvested, not processed suitably, or subjected to long transit times then the petals turn brown quickly. As a result, during the summer months, farmers will harvest only the desired amount of Yulan flowers as determined by the needs of the wholesalers, leaving the remaining buds on the branches, perhaps to be harvested another day. In the winter months when the Yulan flowers are not in season, farmers substitute the sweetly scented Tube Rose to meet the market demand. The seasonal yield and unsteady demand for the flowers makes growing Yulan a risky business, therefore most farmers plant Tube Roses, rice, and or fruits; raise ducks; and some work for various utilities companies to supplement their income and minimize their financial risk.

As already mentioned, most are unaware of the unique sales and distribution channel of the Yulan flowers. In areas like Gaoshu and Yenpu of Pingtung County, most of the farmers end their day of hard labor at dusk, while yet another group is just getting ready to begin theirs by harvesting the blossoms throughout the night.

When in full bloom the farmers must harvest the buds every night and keep the flowers at low temperatures for freshness while being transported to Taipei. The harvest begins at sunset as the evening temperatures begin to drop. If the Yulan magnolia is harvested too early the buds will not unfurl to release its fragrance; if harvested too late, the flowers will have expended most of their energy on the branch, and when picked they will quickly wither. In addition, if the Yulan is harvested too late the farmer will risk missing the window of opportunity to sell the flowers when they are at their prime, a considerable risk that the Yulan farmers cannot take.

Surrounded by the Laonong and Ailiao Rivers and braced by the Dawu Mountain that borders the beautiful scenic areas of Maolin, Sandimen, and Meinong as well as Gaoshu of Pingtung County is a surprisingly simple village that is visited by very few tourists. Even fewer know that this area is the home to most of the Yulan magnolia flowers that are grown and harvested in Taiwan. Gaoshu supports ninety hectares that are planted with Yulan magnolias, of which fifty are located within Taishan Village alone. This region produces approximately two hundred tons of blossoms annually and accounts for more than two-thirds of Taiwan’s annual yield as the crops are planted and harvested by sections. The price for Yulan magnolias is determined by weight. Therefore farmers will use every method available to coax these flowers to grow faster and larger, oftentimes using fertilizing, weeding, and spraying the buds with hormones that are designed to stimulate growth. During the fall and winter season when the flowers do not bloom, the farmers struggle with even more methods in an attempt to persuade these blossoms to mature earlier but their efforts are usually met with limited results.

Farmers oftentimes hire foreign brides and part-time laborers to help harvest the blossoms since the area to be picked is so vast. These workers sling the basket onto their backs with ease, slip into their long rubber boots, and head out to pick flowers as dusk gradually turns to darkness. They tread into fields where snakes are common. Once positioned, they turn on the headlamps fastened around their foreheads and create patterned beams of light that swerve and intersect as they move amongst the layers of branches and leaves harvesting the flowers.

After two or three hours of work, they carry their baskets laden with the sweetly scented flowers back to the farmer’s house where the blossoms are then prepared and packed for transport. At the farmer’s house the Yulan magnolias are gently washed and placed into black plastic tubs. A long stick of ice is placed into the shipping containers to help lower the temperature and to slow the release of ethylene from the blossoms. Ethylene is a gas released by plants that stimulates the release of dormancy, promotes flower opening and stimulates flower and leaf senescence. If the plant releases too much ethylene then the lily-white petals will turn brown, so the lower temperatures while in transit slows the release of ethylene and helps to preserve the Yulan magnolias in their elegance and youth.

Upon nightfall, the wholesalers in Taipei also begin working as orders from the vendors are continuously phoned in for the Yulan magnolias. The wholesalers are kept busy by recording each order, confirming total counts, and communicating with the farmers in Pingtung. The freshly picked Yulan magnolias arrive in Taipei around two o’clock in the morning, about the same time as many Taipei City residents are heading home after a night out on the town but for a Yulan magnolia vendor the workday is just beginning. At one of the regular distribution centers located near Zhongshan Football Stadium, strong and experienced men greet the trucks, unload the shipment and repack them according to the previous day’s orders. Their twenty years of experience is reflected in their movements and their deft calculations of distribution routes in order to avoid roads with speed cameras. Along these routes, the Yulan magnolias are further distributed to stores and vendors’ homes throughout greater Taipei and Taoyuan.

Some of these flowers are destined for 24-hour convenience stores, a brightly lit intersection, a vendor’s home or even a stairwell located down a narrow and winding alley. The delivery trucks swiftly negotiate the streets, alleys, and lanes distributing the flowers to their final destination. After years of cooperation, a unique bond of trust is developed between the vendor and wholesaler that is unlike any other business relationship. Vendors, wishing to sleep through the night, have been known to give their house-keys to the wholesaler, trusting them to deposit the flowers in a designated location. While the Yulan magnolia vendor sleeps, the distributor quietly opens the door, places the order and returns to their truck in order to make the next delivery. The whole process, usually taking less than a minute, marks the point in which the flowers begin to release their enticing fragrance into the inky darkness of night.

At dawn, far from their home, the Yulan finds itself in the hands of a vendor who arranges them into strands, wreaths, or places the buds onto plates for decoration as they are prepared to enter our lives transformed. Pious men and women buy them as offerings outside the Xing-tian Temple to aid their prayers for good health and/or peace of mind. At various markets and busy intersections those who encounter a Yulan vendor will purchase the flower and place the blossoms in their outer pocket or hang them on their wallets in hopes that the sweet fragrance will lift their mood for the rest of the day.

Although there is no accurate statistic to measure the number of Yulan vendors throughout Taiwan, it is easy to recognize that as the economy lags and unemployment rises, the number of vendors at the intersections of busy street corners has increased markedly. It is quite possible that you will see a different vendor each time you stop at a busy intersection which is a clear indication of how competitive this “business” has become. ?The Yulan vendor could be aged and bent; or young and in the prime of life; or even a teenager who has turned a hand to selling the Yulan magnolias. These vendors usually wear facemasks and/or straw hats to protect their faces from the harsh effects of the direct sun. Disabled vendors also tread between the cars in traffic, carefully passing flowers and change to their customers.

Experienced vendors know exactly what they’re doing, having calculated the time between changes in the traffic lights they walk unhurriedly between the cars that have been stopped in traffic. While always maintaining a polite distance, these vendors use their eyes to silently solicit the drivers who may wish to make a purchase. Novice vendors, on the other hand, nervously wait outside each car window and are unsure as to how to read a drivers expressions until it is too late and the car drives off as the light changes to green and in the end the vendor is only left with a missed opportunity.

A technology revolution has introduced rapid change and wrought huge developments in the modification of agricultural products in Taiwan. Technology has facilitated the ability to grow flowers that are bigger and brighter as well as flowers that bloom for longer periods to time. Offshoots of this industrial growth and development offers new hope in terms of producing a variety of value added products and services. Although the Yulan magnolia is not as economically valuable as the orchids are in the international marketplace, the Yulan still plays an important role in Taiwan’s economy and society. This small, fragile flower embodies the hopes of countless families as it weaves dreams, tells stories, and binds us all together.

What the future has in store for the Yulan is impossible to know.? However, no matter how special and precious the Yulan is to us we do know that the livelihood of various farmers, vendors, wholesalers, as well as the beliefs of pious worshipers and our own nostalgic memories are all dependent and attached to this flower.?

Yulan, that dab of pure bright whiteness and that refreshing fragrance: resting on branches, wafting through city streets, lingering in our cars and hovering over our desks accompanies our emotions and our memories along with the ringing bells and curls of smoke in our temples. The Yulan magnolia: an offering to the gods, a light in our lives and a sweet caress of Taiwan.

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