Introduction to the Lavender Country of Yili, Xinjiang

Xinjiang Yili Lavender Township is located at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, known as the South of the South of the Walled City, Xinjiang Yili, with its unique geographical location and climate conditions, has now built the largest lavender base in the country, and has become one of the world’s eight famous production areas of lavender.

Known as the “South of the Wall”, Yili is surrounded by mountains on three sides (Tianshan Mountains), where full sunshine, humid climate, the temperature difference between day and night, resulting in thousands of miles of fertile fields, fertile grass and sweet water, rich produce, unique resources.

The essence of history, simple culture, rich ethnic customs, and unpolluted ecological environment depict the leisurely atmosphere of “the sky is vast, the wilderness is boundless, and the grass is blowing in the wind. The multi-ethnic Yili River Valley is endowed by nature with geographic and climatic conditions similar to those of the Mediterranean Sea, so that in the last century, in the world of aromatic plants, China’s “Lavender Country” blossomed.

Lavender is the main raw material for the manufacture of expensive and high quality perfumes, balms and other cosmetics for daily use. Lavender is a perennial sub-shrub of the Lavandula genus in the family Labiataceae, and is also an ornamental natural aromatic oil plant. The lavender oil extracted from the narrow-leaved varieties of lavender grown in Yili, Xinjiang is of high quality, pure odor and lasting aroma, and is the main raw material for the manufacture of expensive and high-grade perfumes, balms and other daily cosmetics.

Lavender is native to the Mediterranean region and the southern foothills of the Alps in southern Europe, and is mainly cultivated in France, Italy, England, Bulgaria and other countries. As early as the 1960s of last century, lavender was introduced to Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in western Xinjiang.

At present, the lavender planting area in the Yili region has reached nearly 0.5 million mu, of which a pole of essential oil production exceeded 200 tons, accounting for more than 93 percent of China’s lavender planting area and production, most of the products are sold abroad, such as Japan, the data show that less than 7% of the domestic market is pure essential oil imported from abroad original products, the remaining 90% of the lavender essential oil in Yili, Xinjiang, the rest is elsewhere! The lavender varieties. In this sense, Xinjiang Yili has long been hailed by the aromatherapy community as “the hometown of Chinese lavender” and deservedly so.

In summer, the lavender fields of Yili are in bloom, and the whole Yili Valley has become a world of fragrance. Lavender is also synonymous with romance, the blooming season is also a busy and singing season, you can often see such scenes: many people singing and harvesting lavender flowers, young men and women in this beautiful season of love brewing.

Those who have been to the lavender fields in Yili will be amazed: this is the “Provence of China”.