PURE APPRECIATION STEMS FROM LOTUS MARKETS

Suzhou looks to build on its aesthetic traditions as more people choose the Chinese blooms over roses and lilies

The lotus pond behind Liu Qinghua's childhood home in northern Jiangsu province was a place of labor, not leisure.

Every summer, as the flowers bloomed and wilted unseen, she was busy digging roots from the mud, loading iron baskets onto her bicycle, and pedaling from village to village to sell them.