Cuihe Village, Ziyun, Guizhou: Flowers and fruit fragrance on every slope, grain abundance in every field

Villager Wu Yingzhong looks at the ripe peaches with joy

Wu Yingzhong, a villager in his sixties from Cuihe Village, Bandang Town, Ziyun Autonomous County, drifted away from home for more than 20 years. After returning to his roots, he did not idle, but instead used the barren hill resources he contracted to develop an orchard, hoping to inspire villagers to change their mindset, make full use of local resources and embark on a new path to prosperity of their own.

"A few well-off households in the village do not mean the whole village is well-off; only when everyone in the village becomes well-off can it truly count as being well-off," Wu Yingzhong said.

"In the early days of reform and opening up, because my family was poor, I went out to work to improve the family's economic situation. During that time I found that the rice noodle processing business was profitable, and I worked in Kunming for 20 years," Wu Yingzhong said. After earning some money, he also brought many people from neighboring villages to do the rice noodle business. The villagers he brought out all gained something and changed their family economic situation.

In 2013, Wu Yingzhong considered that as he grew older, there would always come a time when his physical strength and energy were insufficient, and fallen leaves must eventually return to their roots. When he returned to his hometown, he saw that many villagers could not change their mindset and still used the old methods to grow traditional crops; they were even afraid of failure when investing a little capital to plant fruit trees. With the idea of setting an example, Wu Yingzhong planted 30 mu of fruit trees in one go, including 14 mu of peaches and 16 mu of plums. This year, the peaches were in a semi-abundant state, and nearly 10,000 jin of peaches brought in more than 20,000 yuan.

"The area around Yuliang Group in Cuihe Village has soil and climate suitable for the growth of fruit trees such as peaches and plums, and the fruit has the characteristics of early ripening and good taste," Wu Yingzhong said. In two years, he planted more than 1,600 plum saplings and more than 1,400 peach saplings.

Wu Yingzhong calculated for the reporter: after 1,400 peach trees enter full production, each peach tree will yield more than 30 jin of peaches, for a total harvest of more than 40,000 jin. At an average market price of 3 yuan per jin, this can bring in more than 100,000 yuan each year. The annual management and fertilizer costs for the peach grove do not exceed 20,000 yuan, so the profit is considerable. "For a poor household, as long as they plant 700 peach trees, escaping poverty is really very simple."

"For the development of a place, leaders are very important. Especially for some poor households, being afraid to invest, not knowing how to invest, and not knowing how to find opportunities are major difficulties in escaping poverty," said Wang Gui, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Bandang Town. In recent years, against the background of accelerating industrial structure adjustment and poverty alleviation policies, and under the influence of a few prosperity leaders such as Wu Yingzhong, the area planted with cash fruit forests in Cuihe Village has grown to 2,500 mu, initially realizing a new industrial pattern of fruit-laden hills on every slope and grain-filled fields in every plot.