Tibet Story: Researcher digs into peach trees to benefit people on plateau

LHASA - It is early spring, and peach blossoms are in full bloom in the city of Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, where the signature peach blossom festival opened in late March, while two wild peach trees grown at an altitude of 4,498 meters in the regional capital Lhasa are still in dormancy.

"Due to the low temperature at such a high altitude, the flower buds will end dormancy around the end of April, and the flowering period starts on May 20," said Zeng Xiuli from the Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Sciences, who has studied the plateau region's wild peach trees for 16 years.

In 2007, Zeng, then aged 37, arrived in Lhasa and has been dedicated to studying wild peach trees on the plateau ever since.

"There are more than 300,000 wild Tibetan peach trees from about 1,700 meters above sea level in Metok County of Nyingchi to 4,498 meters on Lhari Nyangbu Mountain of Lhasa," Zeng said.

The wild Tibetan peach, with thousands of years of history, amounts to the ancestor of peach trees.

After thorough investigation and sampling for months, Zeng started to plant the wild variety in a barren floodplain belonging to her academy.

"Without any help, we did everything from scratch. When the saplings grew, we had no idea whether they would bear fruits at all," she recalled.

Finally, her attempts presented fruitful results in the autumn of 2013. Zeng shared the first batches of the peaches with her research team and locals and then began her new round of research -- sending her saplings to Tibet's villages at different altitudes.

"The academy brought us saplings and planting techniques, and then we started planting peach and apple trees in our orchards," said Tashi, a villager in Nyingchi. He now earns more than 100,000 yuan (about ￥14,500) annually thanks to the fruits and booming local tourism.