Lunar New Year Flowers in Flames as Hong Kong Farmer Burns Unsold Stock

Lunar New Year Flowers in Flames as Hong Kong Farmer Burns Unsold Stock
Flowers burn at farmer Leung Yat-shen's farm, following the government's announcement to close Lunar New Year flower fairs amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in Hong Kong, on Jan. 27, 2022. Lam Yik/Reuters
Reuters
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HONG KONG—Flower farmer Leung Yat-shen has burned thousands of flowers he cannot sell this year as Hong Kong’s stringent measures against the Omicron variant of coronavirus have halved his Lunar New Year demand.

Leung, 70, runs a traditional farm in Hong Kong’s rural Yuen Long district growing sword lilies, water lilies, and tulips. He had planted 200,000 flowers for Lunar New Year but was unable to offload about half of them due to the crash in demand.