The moment the reporters stepped off the bus in Shannxi Province’s apple orchards, they were immediately drawn in by Zhao Shengsheng, a local live-streamer, who “took control” of the situation for thirty seconds.
“We have excellent soil here in Shaanxi, with large temperature fluctuations between day and night, plenty of sunlight, and our apples are delicious—big, red, and juicy. Folks, hurry up and place your orders!” he urged enthusiastically.
As a second-generation fruit farmer who inherited his family’s orchard just last year, Zhao is now looking to carve out a new niche for himself using social media. With a bright smile, he shared his business strategies while demonstrating the juiciness of the apples by slicing one open, releasing its sweet aroma.
The sweetness of the apples reflects a sweeter life for the residents of Nango Village.
On October 22, after winding through tree-lined roads, the media delegation for the online promotional campaign “Promoting the Yan’an Spirit, Advancing in a Great Era” finally arrived at Nango Village in the Gaoqiao Town of Ansai District.
The scenery was picture-perfect with lush fields, beautiful gardens, and an abundance of fragrant fruit. But the most striking feature was the sprawling apple orchards, where neat rows of trees stood, their red fruits peeking through the green leaves.
“Longer-shaped apples are tastier, round ones not as much. Remember to pick the ones with more stripes on the skin; those are the sweet ones,” shared a woman named Sister Gao, who comes from a nearby village to help out in the orchards.
“It’s a great market for apples here! Lots of visitors come just to pick, pack their boxes, and buy them. A merchant from Xi’an came a couple of years ago, tasted the apples, and ended up buying millions’ worth!”
Calling the apple trees Nango Village’s “money trees” is no exaggeration. According to Zhang Zhong, the deputy head of the village committee, the village now boasts an impressive 3,160 acres of apple orchards, translating to an average of three acres per person and ten acres per household. “Apples account for 52% of our total income, with a total output value exceeding 15 million yuan and a net income of about 10.8 million yuan.”
Historically, Nango Village was a typical impoverished area, with a total land area of 24 square kilometers, consisting of seven village groups and 345 households with 1,009 residents. Following the call for poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, the village adopted a development model centered on ecological priority, agritourism integration, and green development. This was achieved through a collaborative approach involving party leadership, enterprise support, cooperative management, demonstration by party members, and community participation.
Since 2015, when the village revamped its irrigation infrastructure under its collective economy, Nango has aggressively developed economic crops like apples. By 2018, the village successfully shed its poverty designation. The residents’ per capita disposable income skyrocketed from 4,653 yuan in 2014 to 21,500 yuan in 2023, and the village’s collective income grew from zero to 630,000 yuan. Earlier this year, in an effort to enhance the apple industry’s quality and efficiency, the village introduced new varieties and renovated over 200 acres of orchards.
As of now, Nango Village has received numerous accolades, including being recognized as a national poverty reduction demonstration base, a beautiful leisure village, a national 3A-level tourist attraction, and an advanced grassroots party organization in the province. Residents’ living standards have improved significantly, leading to increased happiness.
The transformation of Nango Village epitomizes the saying, “To get rich, first plant trees.” The humble red apple has paved a new path for the village’s poverty alleviation efforts.
The Rise of Livestream Shopping: A New Future for the Apple Industry
As Nango Village forges ahead, it is marked by the emergence of new opportunities.
After apples from Yan’an made their journey into space aboard the Shenzhou XII and Tianzhou V spacecraft, the term “space apples” quickly gained traction nationwide. Many farmers, like Zhao Yongdong, have reaped significant benefits from this development.
Having cultivated apples for over a decade, Zhao’s income has steadily increased from initial earnings of around 50,000 to 70,000 yuan, and then to over 100,000 yuan. Last year, his apple yield hit 4,000 pounds per acre, bringing in 140,000 yuan in revenue. After accounting for costs, his profit reached about 100,000 yuan. Zhao Shengsheng, his son, represents one of the few young farmers returning to Nango Village to cultivate apples.
With no one to manage the family orchard and his father aging, Zhao Shengsheng returned from the city last May to become a farmer and the village’s first livestreaming apple seller.
Interestingly, Zhao Yongdong initially disagreed with his son’s “internet celebrity” path, doubting whether one could earn money playing with a smartphone. “At first, I opposed it. I thought, how could you make money just by playing on your phone? I even joked about it, telling him to stop.”
However, as sales began to rise, he quickly recognized the internet’s potential as a sales platform. “In the past, we sold by the pile; now we sell by the box and individually. This new e-commerce model has opened up new avenues for Nango’s apple industry.” Today, Zhao Shengsheng operates the account “Brother Zhao Loves Life” on a popular short video platform, streaming live for two to three hours daily, sharing insights into farming life and rural anecdotes, drawing in viewers and boosting sales. He has currently amassed 36,000 followers.
Reflecting on his journey as a live streamer, Zhao Shengsheng remarked, “The internet is a great platform. I can take care of my kids and elderly family while making money. I always remind myself to excel in my work, set a good example, and help bring more young people back to develop and boost agriculture, so we can all walk the path toward prosperity.”
Innovative Approaches to Foster Rural Wealth
On the road to prosperity, the villagers are motivated, and the village committee continues to spark new initiatives.
In recent years, to strengthen collective economic growth and boost community incomes, Nango Village has embraced new media for livestream shopping, implemented apple and cherry “adoption” programs, built a village-level photovoltaic power station, and attracted businesses to develop nighttime economies, continuously increasing both collective profits and residents’ incomes.
The adoption campaign, “I Have a Tree in Nango,” has garnered considerable popularity. The orchard features charming “identity tags,” with designated adoption and free-pick zones. Individuals can adopt an apple tree for 500 yuan or a cherry tree for 798 yuan, with the village collecting a marketing fee from each adoption, yielding an annual revenue of 122,000 yuan.
Zhang Zhong explained, for instance, that adopting a cherry tree guarantees a minimum yield of 25 pounds; if that isn’t met, staff will supplement from the free-pick zone. An apple tree’s minimum yield is three boxes containing 24 apples each. “Visitors from outside the area can have their orders shipped. Those nearby can bring their families to experience the fun of picking.”
Moreover, Nango plans to gradually cultivate new apple varieties and employ modern techniques, such as hail nets and insect traps, to combat natural disasters and pests over the coming years. The village is also exploring a new ecological farming model that integrates livestock and crop cultivation for sustainable cyclical benefits.
Specifically, villagers raise cattle and sheep while developing orchards, allowing sheep to roam freely in the orchards; their waste enriches the soil, nourishing the apple trees which, in turn, boosts yields. The income generated from apple sales further fills villagers’ pockets. Zhang explained that the model is built on the concept of “using tourism to promote farming, using farming to support livestock, using livestock to nourish crops, and using crops to support people,” ultimately achieving both ecological and economic benefits.
The journey of small apples paves the way for major wealth creation, reinforcing Yan’an’s economic development strategy. After years of dedicated work, the apple cultivation area in Yan’an has reached 3.328 million acres, yielding an annual production of 4.644 million tons. Nearly half of the city’s 2.2 million population is involved in the apple industry, with 800,000 farmers benefiting, and apple-related income accounting for 61% of their net operating income. The apple industry has emerged as Yan’an’s most extensive, sustainable, and farmer-benefiting specialized industry.
Today, Yan’an apples are sold in over 30 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and exported to Europe, Southeast Asia, North America, and other regions. These impressive figures reflect not only the development of the Yan’an apple industry but also the inspiring narrative of the local residents’ journey toward prosperity and revitalization.
Walking through the yellow earth, every red apple tells a compelling story. They represent not only nature’s sweet gift but also the hard-earned fruits of perseverance, a vehicle for market connection, and a future filled with promise. They embody the unyielding pursuit of agricultural modernization by both the Party and the people, creating a vivid vision for collective prosperity and rural revitalization in this new era.
