Chinanews, Beijing, Oct 13 – Butterflies are beautiful. They can even become profitable, too. Recently, a woman farmer in Beijing’s Mentougou District has earned a fortune by raising butterflies, the Beijing Daily reported.Deng Xiumei lives in Longquan village, Mentougou District in Beijing. She likes butterflies. She has devoted much of her spare time to collecting butterfly specimen. Right now, she has collected more than 3,000 butterfly specimens. These butterflies vary in 600 species.“I have a butterfly garden where people can see butterfly exhibitions, learn more knowledge about these beautiful insects. They can also see how I make pictures with butterfly wings. I think my butterfly garden is very unique in northern China, ” she said.In order to set up a greenhouse to raise butterflies, Deng has signed a land contract with the villagers committee on borrowing 15 mu (1 hectare) of land from it. Right now, she has raised more than ten species of butterflies in her garden, which vary from Linnaeus Papilio xuthus to Papilio maacki. More and more villagers have got to know her butterfly garden.“From the moment a butterfly flies out of a cocoon, it only has seven days to live. I have always hoped that I can do something to preserve the beauty of every butterfly forever. So I have started to make pictures with butterfly wings, ” Deng said.In a few years, Deng has made several beautiful pictures from butterfly wings. Recently, a village souvenir goods auction fair was held in Beijing. During the auction fair, Deng’s butterfly picture, “The Twelve Beauties in A Dream of Red Mansions”, was auctioned at a price of 16,000 yuan.In addition to making butterfly pictures, Deng had also invented some other cultural activities related with butterflies. She divided her butterfly greenhouse into several zones. Apart from the exhibition hall, visitors can also see how butterflies collect nectar among flowers and how they finish eclosion. She also opens her butterfly garden to visitors. Last year, about 2,000 students and 1,500 tourists visited her butterfly garden. In addition to this, Deng also worked with some marriage companies to jointly organize the butterfly releasing events for some 100 new couples in Beijing during their wedding ceremonies. She made 70,000 yuan out of these events.