Tea, Fruit and Tourism Pave the Way to Prosperity; Riding the 12th Five-Year Plan to Fulfill the Well-off Dream
Looking Ahead to the Next Five Years: Combining Tea and Tourism to Fulfill the Well-off Dream - A Record of Yang Bingxiang's Family in Hongcao Village, Wangu Township, Mingshan District During the "12th Five-Year Plan" Period. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, the land of the tea hometown underwent earth-shaking changes. Today, walking through the urban and rural areas of Mingshan, tall buildings rise one after another, newly built roads extend in all directions, broad and flat, and beautiful new villages have been completed one after another, presenting a thriving and delightful scene everywhere.
Reviewing the Past Five Years: Expanding Production and Embarking on the Road to Prosperity
A few days ago, I walked into Group 6 of Hongcao Village, Wangu Township, and through the past five years of Brother Yang Bingxiang's family, witnessed the development of Mingshan during the 12th Five-Year Plan. Reviewing the five years: Expanding production and embarking on the road to prosperity. Arriving at Yang Bingxiang's home, I saw Yang Bingxiang splitting firewood, preparing firewood for tea-making after the Spring Festival. "My family is one of the earliest tea-making households in Wangu, and I only make 'Huangya' (Yellow Bud), using traditional techniques, for about 20 years now," Yang Bingxiang said to me with full confidence. It is understood that in 1995, Yang Bingxiang learned the craft of handmade tea from a relative, and from then on began his tea-making life.
"I initially processed about 100 kilograms per year, and my income was relatively small." Speaking of his annual income, Yang Bingxiang said, "Only in recent years has my income increased significantly. The main reasons are that the roads in Wangu Township have been built well, and the government holds the Mengding Mountain International Tea Culture Tourism Festival every year, so more merchants from other places come, tea sells better, and I took the opportunity to improve to machine processing and expand production."
When it came to specific income, Yang Bingxiang suddenly raised his voice and waved his hand, saying: "I don't earn much in a year. I process for just over a month each year, about 500 kilograms, and make twenty or thirty thousand yuan." But the party branch secretary Yang Ling, who was nearby, said: "Yang Bingxiang is simply joking with everyone. He is decorating his new building in Hongcao New Village, 140 square meters, one floor plus a ground floor, which will cost at least more than 400,000 yuan. Thirty or forty thousand yuan a year isn't even enough for his family of seven to live on. If you ask about his income, it should at least be doubled on that basis, at least around 100,000 yuan, otherwise he rebuilt a new house after the Wenchuan earthquake and rebuilt again after the Lushan earthquake."
According to the introduction, before 2010, Yang Bingxiang had only one roasting-drying machine. After the state introduced preferential policies for agricultural machinery subsidies, Yang Bingxiang responded to the call and added 3 more machines. At the same time, he trained his son-in-law and brought him into the tea-making team, achieving a substantial increase in processing output and income. At the same time, nearby villagers who saw Yang Bingxiang get rich through tea-making all came to learn tea-making from him and opened tea processing factories. Their days became more and more prosperous, and some even surpassed Yang Bingxiang's family.
Looking Ahead to the Next Five Years: Combining "Tea and Tourism" to Fulfill the Well-off Dream
Arriving at Hongcao New Village in Wangu Township, rebuilt after the disaster, relying on the 10,000-mu ecological sightseeing tea garden, integrating surrounding tourism resources, taking the path of integrated tea-tourism development, and accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the tea industry, a rural tourism development model integrating mountains, water, forests, tea, estates and commerce has already taken shape in the new village.
Yang Bingxiang saw this business opportunity, and after being mobilized many times by village, township and group cadres, he renovated the house he built in the new village and prepared to open a tea shop.
Yang Bingxiang's new house is located next to the wetland park of the new village. Three shop spaces are being renovated; the floors have been installed, the walls have been painted, and the house renovation is about to be completed.
"The main reason I'm only renovating now is that earlier I thought tourism in the new village would not develop very quickly," Yang Bingxiang told me. "On weekends in the second half of last year, during National Day, and during this year's New Year's Day holiday, quite a few tourists came to the new village to have fun, and there were quite a few business opportunities, so I made up my mind to renovate the shop." It is understood that Yang Bingxiang also called back his daughter, who was working in Shenzhen, and prepared to open a tea-tasting house and also sell tea.
Looking ahead to the next five years, watching the tourism industry of Hongcao New Village flourish, Brother Yang is very optimistic about future development prospects, his eyes full of hope. Yang Bingxiang said that tea-making is his old trade, and he will not abandon the traditional craft. This year he added another piece of equipment, and the amount of tea processing will increase by half. At the same time, in the future, in addition to machine tea-making, he will also carry out customized handmade tea business according to the requests of tea customers. Once the shop is decorated, he will open a tea-tasting room. When guests come, they can watch him stir-fry tea on site and drink the "Huangya" he makes. His daughter will mind the shop and serve as the attendant. It is understood that Yang Bingxiang and another villager have also contracted a piece of barren slope of about 6 mu and replanted it with red-fleshed kiwifruit, which is expected to bear fruit in 2 years and generate income.