While the morning mist still lingers over the streets, Hue’s flower market is already awake before dawn. At the market along Ngo Kha Street in Phu Xuan Ward, near the wholesale market, warm yellow lights spill over bundles of flowers still in bud. The sharp revving of motorbikes, vendors calling out to one another, and brisk bargaining create a unique rhythm of the final days of the lunar year.

To sell and serve the customers for the 2024 Lunar New Year of the Dragon, flowers from the South, the North, and even from the suburban flower-growing areas of Hue are being transferred to Hue central area by traders.