Growing Tea and Developing Tourism: A Contractor from Hongya Returns Home and Walks the Road to Prosperity

Known as "seven parts mountains, two parts water, one part farmland," the county has an elevation difference of more than 3000 m, with over 300 large and small streams and rivers, an average annual temperature of 16.8°C, average annual rainfall of 1493.8 mm, forest coverage of 65.7%, and 223,000 mu of soil suitable for tea. Tea is everywhere in Hongya, and its unique geographical environment and climate have created the quality of Hongya tea. In recent years, Hongya has relied on its ecological advantage resources to promote the development of the tea industry and achieve "strengthening the county through ecology and enriching the people through industry." It has successfully established itself as a "National Pollution-Free Tea Production Demonstration Base County"; three "municipal key leading enterprises" have emerged - Shanglin, Yazitiancheng, and Yayulu - along with 4 tea refining factories, more than 500 primary processing factories, 2 leading enterprises with an annual output value of more than 10 million yuan, and 4 tea factories that have completed clean-production transformation. Hongya County, Meishan City has an annual tea processing and sales capacity of more than 16,000 tons. The Hongya tea industry shows absolute advantages such as large-scale and improved-variety tea cultivation, refined tea processing, branded products, quality and safety assurance, and an excellent production area environment. Its comprehensive tea ranking places it third in Sichuan Province.

Returning home to start a business, a contractor from Hongya grows tea and develops tourism, bringing prosperity to the villagers. Twelve years ago, Fu Zhihong, who was still a contractor working away from home, returned to his hometown to start a business. Now 39 years old, Fu Zhihong is not only the Party branch secretary of Qianfeng Village, Zhongshan Township, Hongya County, but also the boss of a local tea company. By developing organic tea gardens and at the same time developing rural tourism, he has helped local villagers earn money and become prosperous.

"Last year our village still had 61 poor households, but this year there are fewer than 30." Fu Zhihong revealed the secret to escaping poverty: the village's former barren hills are now planted with tea, and villagers have a stable income from land transfer and working in the tea gardens.

Fu Zhihong is from Zhongshan Township, Hongya County. When he was 15, his father passed away early, and he went out to work just after graduating from junior high school. In Hongya County town, he started as a mason's apprentice with no wages at all. Once at a construction site, he accidentally fell from a height, causing multiple fractures to his collarbone, cervical vertebrae, and fingers, leaving him with a level-4 physical disability. Even so, he never gave up on starting a business.

In 1998, through a friend's introduction, Fu Zhihong went to Shimian County, Ya'an, to paint coatings locally. He pursued excellence, and the projects he handled were once rated as model projects there. "More and more people came to me, and the business gradually grew bigger and bigger."

The three magic weapons of "quality assurance, quantity assurance, and integrity" enabled Fu Zhihong's construction company to accumulate a good reputation and profits in the industry. In his early twenties, he began working as a contractor and earned the "first bucket of gold" of his life.

Hongya County's natural ecological environment is very suitable for tea cultivation. But in the past, it lacked leading enterprises, sales were at the primary stage of selling fresh leaves, the entire industry was at a low-end level, and tea farmers' incomes were low. Zeng Jianqing, former deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Zhongshan Township, recalled that in the past villagers all "carried baskets to sell fresh leaves," and the money they earned was only a little more than growing rice. "In 2004, the per capita net income of Qianfeng Village was still less than 4,000 yuan, a medium level in the township."

In 2004, the Party committee and government of Zhongshan Township approached the successful Fu Zhihong, hoping he would contribute ideas and efforts to the development of his hometown's tea industry. Fu Zhihong, who had never been engaged in tea processing, was somewhat hesitant at first. He had never had any contact with tea processing. "My family also disagreed. Engineering was going well and the profits were good, so why go do tea?"

However, Fu Zhihong recalled the past when he was 19 and worked hard selling tea. "Now that I have money, can I help the people of my hometown? Later I thought I'd give it a try." In 2004, Fu Zhihong returned to his hometown as a migrant worker to start a business and set up a tea factory.

Fu Zhihong vigorously developed organic tea gardens. At present, of the more than 5,000 mu tea base established by his company, 3,000 mu have passed organic certification in China, the European Union, Japan, and the United States respectively.

In 2013, after Fu Zhihong was elected Party branch secretary of Qianfeng Village with a high vote, he organically combined the tea industry with tourism, building an organic tea village while developing rural tourism. Adopting a five-party linkage model of "village committee + company + association + farmers' cooperative + tourism," it has now initially formed main areas such as a sightseeing area, a cultural and educational area, an experience area, and a fishing area, attracting a large number of people who had gone out to return home for employment and entrepreneurship.

Villager Zhan Muju, nearing 50, has 10 mu of land but very little income. Through developing organic tea, Zhan Muju earned more than 6,000 yuan a year in land transfer income from these 10 mu of land, and all three members of his family work in the enterprise, bringing in more than 50,000 yuan in income. "Poor households like Zhan Muju numbered 61 last year, and now fewer than 30 remain," Fu Zhihong said. "Developing the organic tea base is just a demonstration. In the future, villagers can follow suit, run things themselves, and achieve prosperity."