A small apple tree planted a new -money- way to get rich in Yan’an_1

As soon as the journalists disembarked from the bus, they found themselves recruited for a quick 30-second pitch by Zhao Shengsheng, a local livestreamer in the apple orchards.

“Here in Shaanxi, our soil is excellent, we have significant temperature differences between day and night, plenty of sunlight, and as a result, our apples are delicious, large, vividly red, and juicy! Folks, hurry up and place your orders!”

Zhao Shengsheng, who recently took over the family business as a second-generation fruit farmer, is utilizing new media to carve out a new niche for himself. With a beaming smile, he shared his business insights while demonstrating how to slice into a ripe apple, with its sweet juice bursting forth, filling the air with a delightful aroma.

The sweet apples signify even sweeter lives for the people of Nangou Village.

On October 22, after a winding bus ride through sprawling orchards, the media team, part of the online thematic promotional campaign “Promote the Yan’an Spirit and Progress in a Great Era,” finally arrived in Nangou Village, located in the Gaoqiao Town of the Ansai District in Yan’an City.

The landscape was picturesque, with lush fields, beautiful ponds, blooming trees, and an abundance of fragrance from the fruits. However, the most striking feature was the extensive apple orchards—rows of neatly planted trees separated by vegetable beds, with vibrant red apples peeking through the greenery, creating a charming scene.

“The elongated apples are tastier; the round ones are less desirable. Remember to pick those with pronounced stripes on their skin—those tend to be sweeter,” said Sister Gao from a neighboring village, who occasionally comes to Nangou Village to work in the orchards and earn a little extra.

“The apples here sell like hotcakes! Tourists flock to pick and pack them by the box. Just two years ago, a fruit merchant from Xi’an visited, was impressed by the quality, and ended up purchasing several million yuan worth!”

Describing the apple trees as Nangou Village’s “money trees” is not an exaggeration. Zhang Zhong, deputy head of the village committee stationed in Nangou, explained that currently, Nangou Village boasts an apple planting area of 3,160 acres, averaging three acres per person and ten acres per household. “Income from apples constitutes 52% of our total village income, with a total output value exceeding 15 million yuan and a net income of about 10.8 million yuan.”

Nangou Village was once a typical impoverished area, comprising 24 square kilometers with seven villager groups and 345 households totaling 1,009 people. Following the call for poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, the village adopted an eco-priority, agriculture-tourism integration, and green development approach, implementing a “party-led, enterprise-driven, cooperative-managed, party member-demonstrated, and community-participated” model of growth, making strides in the “Three Transformations” reform: turning resources into assets, funds into shares, and farmers into shareholders.

Since 2015, when they restored water conservancy facilities through village collective economies, Nangou Village has vigorously developed economic crops like apples. By 2018, they successfully lifted themselves out of poverty, and by 2023, the disposable income of villagers grew from 4,653 yuan in 2014 to 21,500 yuan, while collective economic enterprises enjoyed a revenue increase from zero to 630,000 yuan. Earlier this year, to enhance the apple industry’s quality and efficiency, the village introduced new varieties and renovated more than 200 acres of orchards.

To date, Nangou Village has received numerous accolades, including being named a national model site for poverty alleviation experience exchange, a Beautiful Leisure Village, a national 3A-level tourist site, and an advanced grassroots party organization in the province. The villagers’ quality of life has significantly improved, along with their happiness levels.

The transformation of Nangou Village exemplifies the saying: “To get rich, first plant trees.” These small red apples have paved a new path for the village in their fight against poverty.

As the apple industry evolves, new faces are emerging on this journey.

After Yan’an apples went to space aboard various missions like Shenzhou 12 and Tianzhou 5, the reputation of the “space apples” spread far and wide, benefiting many farmers, including veteran orchardist Zhao Yongdong.

Having cultivated apples for over a decade, his income has gradually increased from around 50,000 yuan to 700,000 or even over 1 million yuan. Last year, Zhao achieved an impressive yield of 4,000 pounds per acre, leading to an income of 140,000 yuan, and after costs, a profit nearing 100,000 yuan. His son, Zhao Shengsheng, is among the few young returnees taking up apple farming in the village.

With no one to manage the family orchard and his father aging, Zhao Shengsheng returned to his hometown in May last year, jumping into farming and becoming the village’s first short video blogger to promote apples through livestreaming.

Interestingly, Zhao Yongdong initially opposed his son’s “internet celebrity” route, skeptical that playing with smartphones could be fruitful. “At first, I was against it. I thought, how could you make money fooling around with your phone all day? I used to joke that he should just give up.”

However, as sales began to rise, Zhao Yongdong realized the true potential of the internet as a business platform. The traditional methods of selling by the pile transitioned to selling by the box or piece, and this new e-commerce model opened a fresh avenue for Nangou’s apple industry. Today, under the handle “Zhao Ge Loves Life,” Zhao Shengsheng actively streams for 2-3 hours daily on a short video platform, sharing insights into the life of farmers and creating engaging rural content, all while drawing in more traffic for sales; he has amassed 36,000 followers.

Reflecting on his career as a livestreamer, Zhao Shengsheng remarked, “The internet is a great platform. I can take care of my kids and elderly relatives while making money from home. I often remind myself to excel in my work as a role model to inspire more young people like me to return, work together, and develop agriculture, so we can all work our way toward prosperity.”

To further bolster village income, the village committee has introduced innovative strategies.

In recent years, to enhance the collective economy and boost residents’ incomes, Nangou Village capitalized on new media for livestream selling, fully promoting apple and cherry tree sponsorship, and establishing village-level solar power stations, while also encouraging businesses to engage in nighttime economies, which have led to continuous income growth.

Among these initiatives, the “I Have a Tree in Nangou” sponsorship program has gained considerable popularity. In the orchards, quirky “identity tags” can be seen everywhere. The orchard is divided into sponsorship and free-pick areas, with apple trees available for sponsorship at 500 yuan per tree and cherry trees at 798 yuan, with the village collective taking a promotion fee of 30 yuan and 58 yuan respectively, generating an annual income of 122,000 yuan.

Zhang Zhong explained that the picking rights for a cherry tree are set at a guaranteed minimum of 25 pounds; if this is not met, additional fruit is provided from the free-pick area. For apple trees, the guarantee is three boxes of 24 apples each. “Visitors from other regions can arrange for delivery, while those nearby can come with their families to enjoy the picking experience.”

Additionally, Nangou Village plans to gradually and steadily increase the planting of new fruit tree varieties in the coming years and employ modern techniques like hail nets and insect traps to combat natural disasters and pests. The village is currently exploring the establishment of a new ecological agriculture model aimed at integrating livestock farming and crop production for a sustainable cycle.

Specifically, villagers themselves breed cattle and sheep while developing orchards. The sheep are allowed to roam freely among the trees, and their manure enriches the orchard soil, resulting in high-quality apples, which in turn boosts the villagers’ income. Zhang Zhong highlighted that the essence of this model is “tourism drives agriculture, agriculture drives livestock, livestock nourishes fruit, and fruit benefits people,” ultimately achieving dual rewards of ecological and economic benefits.

Transforming small apples into a significant path to prosperity has become a key initiative for Yan’an City’s economic development. Through years of committed effort, the apple planting area in Yan’an has reached 3.328 million acres, yielding annual apple production of 4.644 million tons. Nearly half of the city’s 2.2 million population are engaged in jobs linked to the apple industry, with 800,000 farmers benefiting; apple-related income makes up 61% of farmers’ net earnings. The apple industry has emerged as Yan’an’s most widespread, consistently beneficial, and noteworthy contributor to farmers’ income.

Today, Yan’an apples are in high demand across over 30 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with exports reaching numerous countries and regions in Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America. The stunning statistics reflect the development of Yan’an’s apple industry, as well as symbolizing the aspirations of the local community towards poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

Walking through the yellow earth, every single red apple tells a captivating story. They are not just nature’s sweet gifts but also fruits of unwavering determination, market success, and promising revitalization—mirroring the relentless pursuit of agricultural modernization by the Party and the people. In this new era, these humble apples connect countless households and collectively paint a bright picture of escaping poverty and advancing toward a better future.