Legend of a sensible willow countryman

At eight in the morning, Zhou Hongliang, a countryman from Jiangsu Province, began to be busy for the curly willow branches painting, because a florist just called to order some.

Reporter: "You hold by the hand but you are not afraid of getting your clothes dirty?"

Zhou: "The florist needed the goods urgently so that I could not even have time to change clothes. Moreover, I sold the branches at price of 2,000 yuan. So, this does not matter."

Zhou said a price of 2,000 yuan was made by his own, but why he set such a high price for such willow branches appeared not to deserve it?

Zhou: "Because these things grow for a relatively long period, such as these branches, which have grown for about six years, so the price seems not to be expensive."

At nine o'clock, when the customer who's hurriedly rushed to Zhang's was not satisfied with the price.

Flower Dealer Zu Hongmei: "In the past, to be frankly, countrymen would regard them as a wood fire, but now he sold me at 2,000 yuan."

Zhou: "Well, if you think the price is okay, you took them; if you think that is too expensive, free to take as you want."

The customer: "But, that is it?"

Zhou: "Just go as you'd like to be."

Four hours later, the painted dry willow branches were purchased by Zu finally at that price.

Reporter: "What will you buy these for?"

The customer: "It is for a luxury our hotel where the hall needs to be decorated to have a new but unique look."

The original, since Zu Hongmei received orders from her hotel, she's looking for such kinds of willows of growth over six to seven years, and finally found that in the Zhou Hongliang. She was eager to buy it, because in Shuyang, willow branches of such kinds are running out.  Why is it so valuable?

Curly willow branches / dragon willow	Functions
Scientific name: Salix matsudanatortousa  (Salicaceae) Salix	It's the willows that are commonly known as curly willow branches. One cultivars of willow family. Because of its bending branches, just look like the dragon, so they're also named as dragon willow, which is a very good ornamental tree. Curly willow branches are often used as an economic species. After cutting branches, they're widely used in floral art and floral arrangements.

Secretary-General of local flower association Cheng Hong said that: "Dragon willow is a species of willow plants, but it's not largely needed a few decades ago. "

The locals used to take the willows as firewood, but in 2001, Zhou Hongliang who was working in Shanghai, laid out of them to dry at home, which is rather to get willow branches wholesale to Shanghai to be sold.

Zhou's wife: "I am very puzzled, and the willow itself is something like firewood, it's really in needs?"

Zhou: "It leaves seem to be the same as the ordinary willow leaves, but when it leaves get cut and they turn to be a nice shape, which are in the same shape as handicrafts I've seen in Shanghai. "

Zhou got these branches to Shanghai to have a try to know whether he could make money from them. And it proved to be a good way to enrich himself as expected.

Zhou spared time to sell willows, which helped earn extra several hundred yuan every month, then he began to try to send some dragon willow flowers to wholesaling market, but no one wanted to  place orders on a regular basis, because of lack of varieties of colors and few of applications. Until May 2002, Zhou did the businesses in Nanjing, this time a flower shop boss saw business opportunities and prepared to cooperation with him in a regular way.

Florist: "In terms of our flower shop, I thought it would be very rich in its kinds and styles after drying - dyed various colors and unique to customers." the florists have done his own business for 20 years, who is keen and sensible to judge the market.

Florist: "I learned from some of the newspapers that the dried flowers should have a large number of domestic market, and certainly, so do they on the foreign market."

After the recognition by the dealer, Zhou started mass production of turning willows into dried willow flowers. And for the reasons that he had build his own sale network a in Shanghai, Guangzhou at this time, which made the dry flowers quickly spreading in the market. Though it's 2 yuan higher than the ordinary willow, it's more popular among ordinary consumers.

Customer: "For a little embellishment in colors later, it's not so monotonous as it was before. And when it's used in flowers arrangement, we found that it is a really magic effect to look like more colorful. We're sure our dry flowers will increasingly grow in amount in near future."

With the increase of domestic demand dry willow flowers, Zhou's products now have been sold more than 10 cities across the country and exported to over 10 countries.