Licheng Water Lily Feast

Licheng Water Lily Feast

　　The Licheng Water Lily Feast is a specialty of Licheng District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province. The Water Lily Feast is created by the China Water Lily World using water lilies, lotus flowers, and aquatic vegetables as the main ingredients, refined and tested repeatedly by chefs from the Great Hall of the People. It features over sixty signature dishes, combining the exquisite taste of high-end banquet cuisine with the mellow aroma and natural flavors of farmhouse food.

　　The China Water Lily World (Lotus Manor), invested with over 50 million yuan, was established in 2003, covering an area of more than 300 acres. Located in the Baiguo Mountain Scenic Area of Licheng District, Qingdao, it is surrounded by mountains and water, boasts beautiful scenery, and enjoys convenient transportation. Facing Tianshui Road and adjacent to Binhai Avenue, it is the only aquatic botanical garden in China named after water lilies. The garden is one of the world’s four major cultivation bases for water lilies and lotuses, an international evaluation base for new lotus varieties by the International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society, and currently the only aquatic botanical garden in China themed around water lilies and lotuses. It integrates scientific research, science education, leisure dining, sightseeing tourism, floral leasing, and industrial production, meeting international standards and boasting a rich variety of resources.

　　The garden has introduced over 150 excellent tropical water lily varieties and more than 200 cold-resistant water lily varieties from both domestic and international sources. It has also independently cultivated and owns intellectual property rights for over 100 tropical water lily varieties and 160 cold-resistant ones, reaching world-class advanced levels. In the past five years, it has newly developed and owns intellectual property rights for over 100 lotus varieties, including a batch of artificially induced triploid varieties, which are world-first innovations. Currently, the garden has collected and cultivated over 600 outstanding water lily varieties and more than 800 premium lotus varieties. The China Water Lily World has become the aquatic botanical garden with the most diverse and comprehensive collection of water lilies and lotuses in the world, along with over 300 other types of aquatic flowers, aquatic plants, and aquatic vegetables. Additionally, it has cultivated various self-owned fruit tree seedlings such as seedless sweet persimmons, Changlv soft-seed pomegranates, and Changlv cypresses. Research on developing deep-processed new products using water lilies and lotuses as raw materials has also made significant progress, including over thirty products such as water lily flower tea, lotus multi-treasure paste, water lily embryo nutrient extract, lotus pollen pellets, and lotus liquor.

　　The garden maintains extensive exchanges with the international industry. Every year, foreign experts visit specifically to exchange ideas on lotus culture, trade, or purchase water lily and lotus varieties and related deep-processed products. This has elevated the garden’s international reputation and greatly contributed to the promotion of China’s lotus culture and industry.

　　The Lotus Manor Hotel within the garden provides guests with an elegant, fresh, and natural dining environment, offering distinctive Lotus Feasts, Whole Deer Feasts, and other unique cuisines. Guests can enjoy authentic farmhouse dishes (such as venison, wild boar meat, and pheasant), specialty Brazilian barbecues, as well as banquets for weddings, birthdays, group meetings, tourist groups, and accommodations.

　　The research on water lilies and lotuses at the China Water Lily World has reached internationally advanced and domestically leading levels. The garden now cultivates dozens of new, high-quality water lily and lotus varieties each year. It is a leading Chinese enterprise in aquatic flower technology, a member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and the International Waterlily Society, an executive director unit of the Lotus Branch of the China Flower Association, a director unit of the Qingdao Flower Association, and the host venue for the National Lotus Exhibition. The China Water Lily World is a sacred place for you to find tranquility, admire flowers, worship, travel, and fulfill your wishes.

　　"Ganna Walska": This is the name of a world-famous female singer who invested in creating a lotus garden in California, USA. The water lily variety "Ganna Walska" was named in her honor by later generations. This variety has leaves that develop viviparously.

　　"Mottled Blue": Successfully cultivated by Professor Huang Guozhen of our garden, this variety is appreciated both for its flowers and leaves. It is planted alongside "Blue Sky," whose color resembles a clear sky. Also cultivated and named by Professor Huang Guozhen, it aims to praise the clear and beautiful skies of Qingdao.

　　"Martin Integrity Sir": Red, a world-renowned water lily variety.

　　"Red Dazzling Star": Cultivated by Professor Huang Guozhen of our garden in the United States, named after his foreign name.

　　"Egyptian White Water Lily": Blooms at night. This variety has the most ancient history, existing on Earth 160 million years ago. Its shape and characteristics remain largely unchanged from 160 million years ago. Later, due to changes in the Earth's climate, it survived only in Egypt and Hungary’s hot spring regions. Other night-blooming varieties include the "Indian Red Water Lily."

　　"Huiqin Blue": A tropical water lily cultivated by Professor Huang Guozhen, named after his wife Deng Huiqin to commemorate her. Professor Deng Huiqin dedicated the last years of her life to this land, pouring her heart and soul into cultivating these varieties. Other new varieties we have developed include "Zuxiu Blue," "Peacock Blue," "Blue Treasure," and "Fang Chengli," which are among China’s first tropical water lily varieties, filling a research gap in this field.

　　"Mexican Yellow Water Lily": An excellent cooking ingredient, it is the only variety with small rhizomes and underground runners, featuring overwintering buds. It can survive in soil for extended periods without rotting, demonstrating strong vitality and invasiveness. Cultivation needs to be controlled.

　　"China-Japan Friendship Lotus": In 1953, during land reclamation in a lake in Liaoning Province, China, ancient lotus seeds were discovered, preserved for over 1,000 years due to their unique structure. These seeds were sent to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where they were cultivated and named "Ancient Chinese Lotus." Later, Japan also discovered ancient lotus seeds. A Japanese lotus expert successfully cultivated them and sent the seeds to the renowned Chinese figure Guo Moruo to express friendship between the two countries. Guo Moruo sent the seeds to the Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where they were crossbred with the "Ancient Chinese Lotus" to produce the "China-Japan Friendship Lotus," which was then returned to the Japanese lotus expert. During the Cultural Revolution, the "China-Japan Friendship Lotus" disappeared in China but was brought back by Deng Yingchao during her visit to Japan in 1978 and replanted at the Wuhan Botanical Garden.

　　"Dancing Consort Lotus": Known for its large, flamboyant petals that dance gracefully in the wind, hence its name, full of spirit.

　　"Friendship Peony Lotus": Yellow, cultivated by Professor Huang Guozhen of our garden in the United States. Its flower shape transitions from a stacked ball to a saucer-like form. Its large, elegant blooms exude a noble aura, making it a rare and outstanding variety.

　　"Giant Water Lily": Its underside is thorny, and it has super buoyancy, capable of supporting a 7–8-year-old child sitting on it. It can bear a weight of 25–30 kilograms.

　　"Tangzhao Temple Lotus": During the Tang Dynasty, the monk Jianzhen traveled east to Japan, where a temple was built in his honor and named "Tangzhao Temple." A Japanese lotus expert named a cultivated lotus variety after it to commemorate Jianzhen’s great achievement in traveling to Japan.

　　Lotus Pollen Pellets

　　Pollen is renowned for its comprehensive nutrition. Lotus pollen is known as the "King of Pollen." It has a slightly sweet taste, a beautiful golden color, and delicate grains. Lotus pollen has higher nutritional content than any other type of pollen, rich in amino acids, totaling over 24.2%, with high levels of all eight essential amino acids for humans. It also contains abundant macro and trace elements beneficial to the human body, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, SOD, pollen phospholipids, VE, VC, VB6, VB2, VB12, carotene, and more.

　　No French model goes without using it. Former U.S. First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton both enjoyed using pollen for beauty, which is also the secret to their health and beauty. In Japan, pollen is widely used for cosmetic purposes, regardless of age. Ancient beauties and imperial concubines also loved using pollen. Empress Dowager Cixi of the late Qing Dynasty regularly consumed pollen to maintain her beauty.

　　This product is meticulously made from lotus pollen, known as a "miniature nutrition bank," with benefits for beautifying the skin, enhancing health, and strengthening the body. Regular consumption can boost immunity, improve physical fitness, nourish nerve endings, regulate endocrine function, and combat aging.

　　Water Lily Flower Tea

　　The lotus flower, known for its purity and symbolic of "untainted by the mud," has been revered since ancient times as the "flower of purity and life." It contains seventeen essential amino acids for the human body, six trace elements such as selenium and iron, six vitamins including VB2 and VE, as well as bioactive substances like plant estrogens and anthocyanins, making it highly nutritious. The lotus flower’s characteristic of opening in the morning and closing at dusk aligns perfectly with the human biological rhythm of activity during the day and rest at night, adding to its exceptional value.

　　The water lilies used in this product are sourced from the China Water Lily World at the foot of Mount Lao, surrounded by pristine mountains and clear waters. They are specially selected varieties, harvested at the peak of their nutritional richness, and processed using patented technology that preserves all nutrients without any additives. This makes it a green, healthy, and nutritious premium water lily flower tea.

　　Tomorrow Leaf Longevity Tea

　　Tomorrow Leaf, also known as Longevity Grass, is a perennial herbaceous plant with a unique fragrance. It is rich in nine vitamins, sixteen amino acids, and trace elements such as calcium, manganese, magnesium, and germanium, as well as components like folic acid, pantothenic acid, benzylideneacetone, and rutin.

　　Tomorrow leaf is native to Hachijojima in Japan, an island known as the "Island of Longevity" due to its high population of centenarians. Experts have repeatedly studied the reasons behind the islanders' longevity and concluded that it is related to their regular consumption of tomorrow leaf, both as food and drink—hence its nickname, "longevity grass." The black tea made from tomorrow leaf can enhance the immune system, resist ulcers, prevent thrombosis, lower cholesterol and blood lipids, help prevent cancer, and nourish nerve endings. It also shows certain therapeutic effects on conditions such as hepatitis, high blood pressure, diabetes, and constipation, with no side effects.

　　Sleepy Lotus Embryo Nutrient Extract Solution

　　Extracted from the embryo of the sleepy lotus, it is rich in seventeen amino acids, six trace elements including selenium and iron, six vitamins such as VB2 and VE, as well as a large amount of bioactive substances and female hormones. It contains no additives. With multiple beauty benefits such as delaying cell aging, increasing skin elasticity, preventing pigment deposition, and nourishing nerve endings, it is an excellent product for skincare. As it contains no preservatives, please store it in the refrigerator (0°C–4°C).

　　Lotus Multi-Treasure Ointment

　　The Lotus Multi-Treasure Ointment is carefully prepared from the three treasures of lotus essence known as the "nectar of immortality": lotus honey, lotus pollen, and dried embryo powder. Rich in nutrients and offering comprehensive supplementation, it provides numerous benefits such as skin care and beautification, strengthening the body, delaying aging, nourishing nerve endings, and calming the mind while invigorating the brain.

　　Lotus White Spirit

　　Lotus contains seventeen essential amino acids for the human body, six trace elements including selenium and iron, six vitamins such as VB2 and VE, as well as bioactive substances like plant female hormones and anthocyanin glycosides, making it highly nutritious. This liquor is meticulously brewed using northeastern rice, fresh lotus, and mountain spring water from Mount Lao, following traditional techniques. It has a fragrant taste, and the nutritional elements of the lotus are efficiently and fully absorbed by the body through the soaking process. Drinking this liquor can enhance the immune system, promote blood circulation, prolong life, beautify the complexion, and support overall health.