Yulan magnolia industry becomes a new engine for rural revitalization in Nanzhao
Every year starting in early spring in late February, in the villages, fields, mountain streams and roadsides of Nanzhao County, Henan Province, what you see is a world of Yulan magnolias. Blooming Yulan magnolias one after another welcome guests drawn from afar by their fame. Parent-child trips, classmate trips, senior trips and self-driving tours attract tens of thousands of visitors every day, who linger in the sea of Yulan magnolia flowers and find it hard to tear themselves away.
"Nanzhao is the hometown of Chinese Xinyi (Yulan magnolia, Magnolia biondii) and the hometown of Chinese Yulan magnolia. In recent years, we have broadened our development thinking, deepened the ecological advantages of Yulan magnolia, and actively taken the path of combining Yulan magnolia industry development with rural tourism, with poverty alleviation, and with the improvement of the living environment, boosting the realization of the strategic goal of rural revitalization. Yulan magnolia is entering thousands of households and heading across the country," said Lu Yongjun, director of the Nanzhao County Forestry Bureau, with pride.
Play the trump card of "Yulan magnolia" well
Nanzhao is the place of origin and main production area of Yulan magnolia (Magnolia biondii). Nanzhao has a long history of planting Yulan magnolia. The lines in Qu Yuan's "Li Sao", "In the morning I drink the fallen dew of the magnolia; in the evening I eat the fallen petals of the autumn chrysanthemum," describe the Yulan magnolia (Xinyi) that grows in Nanzhao.
In 2002, Nanzhao passed the certification of origin protection for Xinyi from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
In the process of implementing the rural revitalization strategy, Nanzhao County persists in doing a good job of the great article of "Yulan magnolia." Following the concept of "base-oriented planting, standardized production and brand-based operation," it vigorously develops the Yulan magnolia flower and tree industry.
At present, the area of flowers and trees mainly consisting of Yulan magnolia in Nanzhao County has reached 380,000 mu, ranking first in the city and among the top in the province. The county has 55 specialized flower and tree production villages, more than 200 flower and tree professional cooperatives, and 6 provincial-level leading flower and tree enterprises. It has built the only Yulan magnolia flower and tree industrialization cluster in Henan Province, initially forming a Yulan magnolia flower and tree industrial pattern.
It actively explores Yulan magnolia ecological culture. In Shantou Village, Yunyang Town, the first forest village built, it has successively held the Nanzhao Yulan Magnolia Promotion Conference, the First China (Nanzhao) Yulan Magnolia Flower Fair, the First to Third China Yulan Magnolia Seminars, and the opening ceremony of the Yulan Magnolia Characteristic Town.
The whole county has explored a "Nanzhao experience" for realizing the rural revitalization strategy.
Every year between February and March, when spring turns warm but still cold, going to Nanzhao to "view Yulan magnolias, tour forest villages, eat farm meals and stay in forest homes" has become a must-choice for nearby urban residents' rural leisure ecological tourism.
Build the "Double Ten" ecological project well
Rural revitalization requires the support of suitable rural industries.
Nanzhao's basic county condition of "seven parts mountains, one part water, one part farmland, and one part roads and estates" determines that Nanzhao's "way out lies in the mountains, and its hope lies in the forests," and also determines that the foundation of Nanzhao's rural revitalization lies in the forests.
For many years, the Nanzhao County Forestry Bureau has closely focused on the construction goal of "green throughout the region and scenic throughout the region" proposed by the county party committee and county government, and strongly implemented the "Double Ten" ecological project to lay the industrial foundation for Nanzhao's rural revitalization.
First, the "Ten Major" fine flower and tree demonstration parks. Through measures such as park leadership, brand creation, leading enterprise driving, scientific and technological innovation and policy incentives, efforts are concentrated on building ten major fine flower and tree demonstration parks, including the Yulan Magnolia Ecological Park, the International Wood City, Jinyu Garden, Wanwanshu Ecological Park, Zijin Garden and Decang Garden, laying the foundation for rural leisure flower-viewing, scenery-appreciating and farm-work tourism.
Second, build the "Ten Major" characteristic forestry ecological bases. In accordance with the overall requirements of "ecologicalizing the forestry industry and industrializing forestry ecology," and by adopting multiple models such as "company + base + farmers," model-driven development and large-scale household operation, it focuses on the "Ten Major Bases," including the 10,000-mu standardized Xinyi planting base in Xiaodian Township, the 10,000-mu Chinese honey locust and Trident maple base in Yinhe Hushan, Chengjiao Township, the 10,000-mu high-quality peach base in Yunyang Town, the Jinlei Eucommia base in Qiaoduan Town, and the soft-seed pomegranate base in Sikeshu Township, and vigorously develops woody Chinese medicinal materials mainly consisting of Xinyi, Chinese honey locust and Eucommia, woody oil plants mainly consisting of walnut, and organic fresh fruit mainly consisting of high-quality peach and pear, laying the foundation for rural leisure forest-fruit picking and farm-work tourism.
Implement the "Yulan Magnolia Corridor" beautification plan
Advancing rural revitalization requires the support of developing rural leisure tourism, requires diversified support at the point, line and area levels, and even more requires seamless connection and networking among points, lines and areas.
Over the past few years, the Nanzhao County Forestry Bureau has persisted in closely combining the "Yulan Magnolia Corridor Beautification" plan with Nanzhao's all-region scenic construction. In accordance with the requirement of "flowers in spring, shade in summer, color in autumn and green in winter," it launched and implemented the "Yulan Magnolia Ecological Corridor" beautification plan, building a colorful bridge for rural revitalization.
In 2017, along Provincial Highway S231 and National Highway G345, it planted flowers and trees mainly consisting of Yulan magnolia to high standards, and took the lead in building a 100-kilometer Yulan magnolia ecological corridor. In spring, it formed a Yulan magnolia flower sea corridor of more than 110 kilometers, linking forest villages along the route and boosting rural tourism.
In 2018, within a 30-meter-wide range on both sides of National Highway G207 and Provincial Highway S333, Yulan magnolias were planted under unified planning, with reasonable pairing of seedlings such as photinia and crape myrtle, to build a permanent ecological sightseeing forest belt.
Along tourism roads such as Baichi Pond and Wuduo Mountain, it planned and planted Yulan magnolia, crape myrtle, hollyhock and other flowers and plants, implemented integrated forest and seedling management, carried out comprehensive mountain closure for afforestation within the first mountain ridge range on both sides of the roads, and improved the forest landscape along the way.
By carrying out high-standard greening of the county's main traffic roads in batches and at different levels, it realizes a pattern of linking forest villages into one, improves the overall construction level of forest villages, and ultimately achieves the forest village construction goal of "villages in the forest, forests above the villages, trees wherever there are roads, shade wherever there are trees, trees planted in front of and behind houses, and flowers blooming in courtyards in all four seasons" for all-region green and all-region scenic forest villages.
Launch the construction of "One Hundred Forest Villages"
Rural revitalization requires a beautiful environment and a harmonious life community of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, lakes and grasslands.
In implementing the rural revitalization strategy, the Nanzhao County Forestry Bureau relies on forest village construction to enrich the cultural roots of rural revitalization.
In response to the current situation of relatively low greening and beautification levels in key poverty-stricken villages across the county, and in accordance with the forest village standard of "trees wherever there are roads, shade wherever there are trees, trees planted in front of and behind houses, and flowers blooming in courtyards in all four seasons," and based on the principle of "highlighting key points and implementing step by step," it proposed the forestry poverty alleviation work concept of "building one hundred forest villages,"
planning to build 100 forest villages among the key poverty-stricken villages in 14 townships across the county.
Among them, in 2018, taking natural villages within 35 key poverty-stricken villages as units, and highlighting one scene per village, one product per village, one industry per village and one charm per village, it compiled the "Implementation Plan for Forest Village Greening and Beautification Projects." It made efforts in 5 aspects to improve the rural ecological livability level, striving to basically build beautiful, livable villages with ecological harmony, industrial development, civilized rural customs, prosperous living and distinctive characteristics by 2020.
At present, completed forest villages such as Shitou Village and Shantou Village in Yunyang Town, Guoying Village and Longwangmiao Village in Nanhedian Town, Shandi Village in Xiaodian Township, and Huangtuzui Village in Sikeshu Township have become popular destinations for rural leisure tourism in Nanzhao, attracting tourists from around Nanyang and from inside and outside the province who come drawn by their fame.
In Shitou Village, surrounded by dense forests and tall bamboo, ancient vines and old trees, and Yulan magnolias around the village, the fresh air, precious flowers and trees and beautiful environment attract tourists from all directions in a continuous stream, with cumulative annual tourist reception of more than 200,000 people.
In May 2016, the CCTV program team of "Home in the Distance" selected Shitou Village and filmed "Exploring the Chu Great Wall, Seeking Seclusion in Shitou Village" there. The simple, natural and leisurely rural life of Shitou Village became even more widely known and sought after by people.