Learning to grow flowers helps landless farmers in Qindu District, Xianyang City start businesses and get rich

“Growing flowers and growing vegetables is actually about the same - more care, frequent fertilizing, sun and water given as needed, and effort will definitely bring rewards!” With pots of green plants and flowers arranged, the villagers squatted or stood, listening to an “old man” share his “flower and plant wisdom.” In Chenyang Subdistrict Office, Qindu District, a “grassroots classroom” tailored for landless farmers is held once or twice every month. However, the ones taking the podium are not famous experts or masters, but a group of grassroots “star speakers” whom the residents see regularly. They talk about household matters and share life tips, and such a down-to-earth lecture series naturally attracts a large number of loyal “fans.”

Landless farmers take the stage to teach life skills

“Master Zhao is giving a flower-growing class, everyone hurry over and learn a trick or two!” Early in the morning on October 29, a flower market in Chenyangzhai Village was already packed with residents. Zhao Xiongwa, 45 years old, is a well-known flower enthusiast in the village. The over one hundred pots of flowers and green plants of all kinds displayed in his home are all cared for by him alone.

On small and exquisite wrought-iron flower stands, trailing plants such as String of Pearls are verdantly lush, while Christmas cactus and Kalanchoe are in full bloom; in large planters, bamboo palm and lucky bamboo stand tall and elegant, making the residents itch with envy, wishing their own homes were also full of red flowers and green leaves. “Lucky bamboo should be planted in moist but not waterlogged soil, and the growing environment must not be below 5 degrees Celsius; Christmas cactus should be watered sparingly and must not be exposed to direct sunlight……” Zhao Xiongwa recounted these details as if counting his family treasures, repeating key points once or twice so that everyone could remember them clearly.

The reporter saw that the newly built flower trading market contains shops, warehouses, and insulated greenhouses. These are all the “achievements” of Zhao Xiongwa, who has been engaged in indoor flower business for 8 years.

Zhao Xiongwa told the reporter that he was once a villager of Chenyangzhai Village, previously making a living from his 2 mu of vegetable fields. Every day he went to the fields after 4 in the morning to pick vegetables, and after 6 he rode a tricycle to haul them to the vegetable market for trading. If the price was good, he could earn about 200 yuan a day; when the price was bad, he could earn only about 50 yuan a day. He said he used to also frequently trade vegetables, working from dawn to dusk, rising early and staying up late, which was very hard, and he still could not earn much money. He persisted for three years, especially in the third year, when due to the poor vegetable market, he lost all the profits from the previous two years.

Starting a flower-growing business drives more people to start businesses

In 2004, the farmland was requisitioned. Considering that he usually loved growing flowers and could use flower growing to achieve the goal of starting a business, from that time on, Zhao Xiongwa bought several books about flower growing, learning while planting, paid out of his own pocket to rent 1 mu of land, and in addition to his previous savings, borrowed 35,000 yuan to begin growing flowers. At that time, due to limited conditions, he only grew a dozen or so varieties totaling 6,000 boxes of flowers. He rose early and stayed up late, loading the grown flowers onto a vehicle, riding a tricycle through all the streets and alleys loudly hawking them. Through his own efforts, the net profit in the first year was about 30,000 yuan. “I was very happy at the time, several times more than farming.” he said excitedly.

As the scale of flower growing expanded, by 2007, Zhao Xiongwa spent money to rent another 3 mu of land and opened a flower garden. From a dozen or so varieties several years earlier, it expanded to more than thirty varieties now, totaling more than ten thousand pots of flowers. He also bought a computer to study and attracted more than 30 regular customers. He said: “No need to run all over the streets looking for customers anymore, much easier than before.”

Talking about profits, he calculated an account for the reporter: “For example, the cost of a large pot of flowers is more than 100 yuan, and the profit from selling one pot of grown flowers is more than 30 yuan. When business is good, I can sell at least 80 pots a day, with profits reaching more than 3,000 yuan.”

Zhao Xiongwa said that growing flowers and plants in winter is the hardest, as the flowers must be constantly heated, and the thermometer must be checked 3-4 times every night. Throughout the winter, he had to eat and sleep in the flower shed. After years of effort, growers from Wugong, Xingping, Jingyang, and Yongshou often come here to seek advice. At first, growing flowers was to make a living, but now he has to consider driving more people to employment. Today, his flower garden employs 3 workers, all landless farmers from the village whose families are struggling. His greatest wish is to let them make a living and let more workers learn real skills so that they can have the opportunity to start businesses in the future.

The historical stories of wintersweet and the praise poems of past dynasties' literati

Wintersweet blooms in the depths of winter when all other flowers have withered, with bright color, rich and pure fragrance, refreshing to the heart, and long-lasting. Therefore, since ancient times, many touching stories and beautiful legends have been passed down. It is said that after Qin Shi Huang unified the realm, he built the Epang Palace and gathered beauties from all over. His beloved concubine was surnamed Huang, named Meier. Before entering the palace, she was in love with her cousin Yao. Later she was seized and taken into the palace, and Yao followed as a palace guard. Later, Qin Shi Huang discovered this and expelled the guard from the palace gate, while Huang Meier was ordered to die in the palace and was buried under the wintersweet tree in front of the palace gate. Several years later, the guard joined Liu Bang's uprising, breached the Qin capital, and went to the Epang Palace to find Huang Meier. It was the twelfth lunar month, and the wintersweet tree at Huang Meier's burial site suddenly burst into golden yellow blossoms. The guard was instantly dazed, drew his sword and broke the tree, crying out loudly, "Huang Meier, Huang Meier……" He picked up the wintersweet tree and ran far away. Later, the wintersweet that blooms earliest in winter was called Huang Meier.

It is said that in ancient times in the state of Yan in Henan, the king's imperial garden was planted with rare flowers and exotic plants. In the cold twelfth lunar month, all the flowers withered, and only the yellow plum bloomed proudly in the snow, winning the king's deep affection. But it had no fragrance, and the king ordered that if the yellow plum still did not give off fragrance the following year, all the gardeners would be put to death. Soon it was again the time when the yellow plum was in bud, and the gardeners still had no solution. One dusk, a beggar holding a few branches of stinking plum mumbled: “Do not laugh at my dirty body, the flowers in the imperial garden are not fragrant……” He insisted on forcing his way into the imperial garden and was severely beaten by the guards. The gardeners stepped forward to stop them, each took out money for him, and urged him to leave quickly. The beggar said: “I have nothing to repay you with. A few plum branches for you - they have an inseparable bond with the yellow plum in the garden.” The gardeners took the plum branches, and a stench rushed straight to their noses. Just as they were about to throw them away, they suddenly felt their pockets were heavy, and it turned out the money they had given had returned to their pockets. Only then did everyone realize that the beggar was a living immortal come to save them, and they grafted the stinking plum onto the yellow plum. A few days later, the yellow plum bloomed gloriously, and the whole garden was filled with delicate fragrance. The king rewarded the gardeners richly. From then on, the yellow plum became a fragrant flower, and because it blooms in the cold twelfth lunar month and its flower color resembles wax, it was called wintersweet.

In the Han Dynasty, Emperor Cheng of Han built the Shanglin Garden and selected rare flowers and precious plants from everywhere to place inside. After the Weiyang Palace was completed, wintersweet was also selected and planted in the palace, and Zhao Feiyan was made empress and the Zhaoyang Hall was built. Zhao Feiyan lived within it. She loved flowers, especially wintersweet. Emperor Cheng personally planted several wintersweet trees in the Zhaoyang Hall. That winter, the wintersweet bloomed profusely, and Feiyan enjoyed it day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep. To please Feiyan, Emperor Cheng selected several newly opened wintersweet blossoms, tied them into a string with red silk, and wore them on Feiyan's forehead. Feiyan was delighted and danced a piece for Emperor Cheng to thank him for his grace. After that, Emperor Cheng would always pick wintersweet blossoms to adorn Feiyan's makeup every day. From then on, adorning the forehead with wintersweet became popular throughout the realm. In the ancient poem "Mulan Ci": “Facing the window she arranges her cloudy hair, facing the mirror she applies yellow flower makeup” - this refers to wintersweet blossoms. Chinese girls often have the custom of pinning wintersweet branches on their chests or hair to welcome spring. In places such as Sichuan, when visiting relatives and friends during the cold twelfth lunar month or the Spring Festival, people like to give a few branches of wintersweet to express wishes for the host family's prosperity, peace, and happiness. Many families also use wintersweet as an offering flower to the gods. People of the Central Plains also have a special affection for wintersweet. As early as the Song Dynasty, people in Yanling County, Henan Province, had already cultivated fine wintersweet varieties such as “Suxin,” “Tanxiang,” and “Xinkou.” To this day, local flower farmers mostly call wintersweet plum trees. In the estate of Liu Jing, Minister of Justice in the Ming Dynasty, there was a wintersweet grove of several dozen mu, named “Plum Blossom Manor.” When the great Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo lived in Xuchang, he planted wintersweet extensively in front of and behind his house by the Small West Lake, and the plaque of his residence was also inscribed “Plum Blossom Hall.” In his poem “A Wintersweet Poem Given to Fu Jingkuang,” there is the line “Heavenly craft dots crispness to make plum blossoms.” Lotus picture

Wintersweet has always been chanted by men of letters and admired by the masses. Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty praised wintersweet: “Golden buds lock in the spring cold, the vexing fragrance has not yet unfurled. Though it lacks the face of peach and plum, its flavor is by no means shallow.” Lu You of the Song Dynasty wrote in “Scholar Xun Sends Wintersweet”: “With plum it shares the same register and the same season, I judge its fragrance to be even more wondrous. Drinking deeply, one may judge a thousand days drunk, wild clarity suddenly reduces ten years of decline. Its color seems like newly cut honey from the bee's comb, its shadow would almost outshine the crane's knee branch. Placed in a precious vase it still does not suit - it ought to be kept in a golden house to store its secluded beauty.” The Southern Song poet Xie Xiang wrote: “Cold beauty and pure fragrance are known by the snow, who in the rain makes wax into a coat. The honey chamber creates the color of the flower branch, leaving the cold bee to stay and not return.” These three poems bring out the characteristics of wintersweet, its pure fragrance, its character of fearing no severe cold, and the crystal-clear loveliness of the waxen coat on its flowers. Wang Shipeng in the upper stanza of the ci poem “Dian Jiang Chun - A Wonderfully Fragrant Wintersweet” wrote: “Wintersweet's plum bearing, its natural fragrance and charm are by no means vulgar from the start. Butterflies race and bees chase, honey ripens at the tips.” This describes the flower posture, spirit, and mellow fragrance of wintersweet, vividly and movingly.