Cymbidium ensifolium ‘Dongfang Honghe’, as a new cultivar of C. ensifolium, has an elegant posture and a distinctive pink-white colour, which is of high value for garden application. In order to deeply understand the flower formation rules of C. ensifolium, and to produce high-quality flowers to meet the demand of the holiday market, ‘Dongfang Honghe’ was used as the experimental material to elaborate the morphological change process of flower buds and flower development during the process of flower formation, and to study the effect of forchlorfenuron (CPPU) on its flowering period and blooming quality. The process of flower bud differentiation was divided into six periods according to the results of paraffin sections: floral primordial induction, inflorescence primordial differentiation, floral primordial differentiation, sepal primordial differentiation, petal primordial differentiation, as well as the stage of gynostemium and pollen block differentiation. The process of flower development was divided into six periods according to the characteristics of the morphology changes of inflorescences: the end of inflorescence bud differentiation, bract wrapping period, inflorescence elongation period, coloring period of flower buds, blossom period and flower wilting period. Spraying CPPU and cytokinin could advance the flowering period of C. ensifolium by about 1 month, among which 1 g/L CPPU+1∶1000 cytokinin had the best effect, and the treatment entered into the stage of flower development in 44 d. The flowering period was advanced by 26.55 d, and the duration of blooming was prolonged by 1.89 d compared with that of the control, and the flower buds increased by 0.54 per pot, and the scape diameter was thickened by 0.28 mm. It is assumed that CPPU stimulates the cell division of pseudobulbs, prompts their expansion, and then accumulates sufficient nutrients for the transformation of flower formation. In this study, the flowering process in ‘Dongfang Honghe’ was delineated, which provides key information for the subsequent in-depth study of the mechanism of flower formation to determine the sampling period and the prediction of flowering time in the industry. The effect of CPPU on the flowering of ‘Dongfang Honghe’ was investigated, which lays a theoretical basis for the establishment of a precise technical system of flower regulation.