The Yili River Valley in Xinjiang autonomous region becomes a sea of purple fragrance in late summer, as workers set about the back-breaking task of harvesting, by hand, what has now become the world's third-largest lavender crop.

The flowers need to cut as soon as possible after they blossom, then quickly dried.

Huang Tingju, 50, is a rookie among the workers.

She came to Huocheng county in Xinjiang from Sichuan province when she was just 15, and normally works in nearby cornfields.

But this year, she is helping bring in her neighbor's lavender, to make some extra money.

Each morning she is bent double in the field by 6 am, and spends the next three hours cutting lavender, until the sun gets too hot to work.