"The view was gorgeously appealing. A thought popped into my mind that I wanted to make more people admire such a wonderful sight," he says.

Since then, Fan-who was born in Shandong's Chiping county in 1973-has completely shifted to the cultivation and caring of peonies, with his decades-long passion devoted to a wide array of peony-related events, from developing new species to organizing exhibitions and hosting tutoring programs.

Depicted by the China Flower and Gardening News as "a pioneer in China's peony garden construction", Fan has been in charge or participated in a number of such projects. These have ranged from assisting countries like the Netherlands and France to build Chinese-style peony gardens to helping more than 20 cities, including Taixing in Jiangsu and Jiangyou in Sichuan, to construct local peony parks.

"China has a long and storied history of growing peonies. Almost synonymous with giant pandas and the Great Wall, peony flowers have been considered an icon to symbolize China in some sense," he says.

With their fluffy blooms and vibrant colors ranging from purple to pink, peony flowers are deemed a symbol of prosperity and noble status. For several dynasties they were only allowed to be grown in royal gardens, according to Fan.