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

Nowadays, large quantities of peach saplings selected by the regional agricultural and animal husbandry academy are planted across Tibet, even in Ngari Prefecture, where the average altitude is among the region's highest.

"Seeing residents enjoy fruits grown at their doorstep, I'm more than content, as they've all grown out of the saplings planted in the barren land years ago," said Zeng.

In the winter of 2019, the diligent researcher occasionally found two wild Tibetan peach trees at an altitude of 4,498 meters.

Though the two peach trees were bare and dormant then, they helped the researchers further study the genetic basis of perennial woody fruit trees to adapt to the high-altitude environment.

"This year's peach blossom festival is more lively than ever before," said Nyima Chokyi, a villager from Kala Village, Nyingchi.

The small village has been the venue for the festival's opening ceremony for years, as it boasts vast patches of peach trees, mostly the wild variety improved by Zeng's academy.

During the first two days of this year's festival, Kala Village received about 67,000 tourists, raking in a total ticket revenue of nearly 2 million yuan.

The tourism revenue of Nyingchi is expected to reach 9.2 billion yuan this year, according to the city's tourism development bureau.

But the tourism boom means anything but an end to Zeng and her research fellows' cause.

"Some peach trees in Kala Village have aging problems and poor flowering. Our academy plans to fix the problem and provide relevant technical training for the locals in the coming four to five years," said Zeng.