Dingxi Potatoes: Fragrance Spreads Ten Thousand Miles, True Kindness Connects Hebei and Gansu

“Thank you, Aunt Zhang! We will definitely study hard.” A few days ago, two primary school students from Sanwan Primary School in Shixiawan Township, Anding District, said this excitedly when they received a loving donation from Aunt Zhang Li, who is far away in Hebei Province.

In 2014, Anding District began preparations to build a demonstration zone for the creation of a nationally known potato industry brand. In order to expand the influence of the Dingxi potato brand, the district held the “Dingxi City Potato Brand Creative Design Competition,” and collected a total of 2,735 promotional slogans and 110 potato image logo designs. After three stages - preliminary expert review, re-review, and final review - 30 entries from all over the country stood out. Just when staff members contacted winners to pay out the competition prize money, a phone call from far away moved them deeply.

“When I was a child, I suffered a lot because my family was poor. Two hundred yuan in prize money cannot help me much either. Please donate it to poor children in impoverished mountain areas.” When the competition prize money was being paid out, Ms. Zhang Li from the High-tech Zone of Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, a second-prize winner for a promotional slogan, politely declined over the phone.

“This created a ‘difficult problem’ for us!” competition staff said. In 2015, Anding District won the title of “Demonstration Zone for the Creation of a Nationally Known Potato Industry Brand,” yet Ms. Zhang Li’s “loving donation” had still not been donated. For more than half a year, they had been striving to find recipients, and only on the eve of New Year’s Day did they finally identify eligible donation recipients——two poor students at Sanwan Primary School in Shixiawan Township.

After the donation recipients were determined, competition staff went to Sanwan Primary School deep in the mountains on December 31, 2015, and delivered the “loving donation” into the children’s hands.

“Money has value, but love is priceless. We will certainly educate the children well, so that they study hard and become people useful to society.” Gao Yuan, principal of Sanwan Primary School, said solemnly.

Potato fragrance overflows in all directions, and true kindness is conveyed across ten thousand miles. Now, Anding District is making efforts again, dedicated to building a national pioneer demonstration zone for potato staple food development. On this new historical journey, with strong support from all sectors of society, the potato flowers of the “core area of China’s potato capital” will bloom even more brilliantly, and the fragrance of potatoes will endure and remain ever new.