These days, across Yuyuantan Park, more than 300 wintersweet trees have burst into bloom. Clusters of pale yellow unfurl along bare branches, defying the biting spring breeze. Their subtle fragrance drifts through the woodland, heralding the official opening of Beijing's early spring blossom season.
Walking along the southwest entrance of Yuyuantan Park, the reporter was greeted by a faint fragrance carried on the breeze. Following the scent, rows of golden wintersweet trees soon came into view.
The flowers on the branches are either in bud or quietly in full bloom, their tender yellow petals translucent and lustrous against the muted early spring landscape.
To wander among them is to be enveloped by floating fragrance, delicate and refreshing—a tangible sense of renewal and quiet hope in the year's first thaw.
Sun Yuhong, a senior engineer at Yuyuantan Park, explained that the park's 300-plus wintersweet trees are concentrated along the southwest entrance area and in the Yingluo Flower Valley. Originally introduced from Yanling County, Henan Province in 2015, the trees are now in their prime: vigorous, healthy, and rich in blossoms. Given the modest size and delicate coloring of wintersweet blossoms, the park has planted them primarily along pathways, allowing visitors to view and photograph the blossoms up close.
As one of China's traditional centers of wintersweet cultivation, Yanling is renowned for its cultivars' refined fragrance, hardiness, and extended flowering period. Through years of careful cultivation and adjustment, these trees have fully adapted to Yuyuantan's environment, returning reliably each year to become the park's signature late-winter spectacle—and a distinctly poetic addition to Beijing's early spring.
The blooming trees have drawn numerous visitors seeking out their scent. "The moment I entered the park, I was met by this wonderful fragrance," one remarked. "Looking at these golden blossoms lifts my spirits entirely. To be close to nature like this, to enjoy such beauty—it's a proper treat."
Valued for its cold-hardiness and elusive perfume, wintersweet is among the most prized early-blooming ornamentals in northern China. Unlike more flamboyant flowers, Yuyuantan's wintersweet captivates through understated elegance and scent alone, set against the park's open garden landscape to create a scene of restrained vitality and quiet refinement. The park confirms that the trees have now reached peak bloom, with the season expected to continue through mid-March.
To preserve the experience for all, the park urges visitors to practice considerate behavior: no picking of branches, no treading on grass. The wintersweet's character—flowering whilst winter yet holds sway—deserves to be appreciated in tranquil contemplation. As temperatures rise, early forsythia and mountain peach will follow in succession, promising a succession of spring delights as the capital welcomes the return of growth and abundance.
