Thorn pears reshape rural county's fortunes

GUIYANG — With the harvest season in full swing in Longli county, Guizhou province, verdant hills are being embellished by yellow, spiny Cili fruits, or thorn pears.

Called Rosa roxburghii in Latin, the thorn pear is rich in vitamin C and has various nutritional benefits. It is one of the iconic specialties of this mountainous area.

Yan Qihua, a 60-year-old villager in Longli, has grown thorn pears for over two decades and has witnessed how this prickly fruit has reshaped his hometown.

"Cili is hardly a common fruit and is difficult to preserve, so my wholesale business was once caught in a dilemma, and I had to find a way out," he said.

Eyeing industrial upgrades, he found the solution in deep processing.

"We began to process fresh fruits into candied products, which have a longer shelf life and added value," Yan said.

With the help of agricultural technology, he has dedicated the past two decades to exploring more approaches for candied thorn-pear manufacturing. As more residents hopped on the bandwagon, he established an agricultural cooperative to pool wisdom and share growth opportunities.

With thorn pear production having evolved into a pillar industry locally, the cooperative boasts an annual output of more than 450 metric tons, helping over 300 residents secure employment each year.

Yan's story exemplifies the concerted efforts of Guizhou in advancing the rural vitalization of distinctive industries. Recent years have seen the province scale up support for the upgrading of the thorn pear industry.

A case in point is Huishui county, where boxes of thorn pears from neighboring Longli are processed by an assembly line into a juice beverage.

Known as Ciningji, the beverage is a result of cross-provincial cooperation in poverty alleviation. Its producer, Guizhou Wanglaoji Ciningji Industrial Development company in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was established by Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings.

Benefiting from Guizhou's favorable conditions for thorn pear planting and the company's advantages in processing and marketing, the beverage is gaining popularity among a wider range of consumers.

Guizhou has officially designated the thorn pear industry as one of its 12 major rural industries with local characteristics and advantages.

Data showed that as of the end of last year, the annual output of thorn pears in Guizhou had reached 15 billion yuan ($2.09 billion), with the over 210,000 rural residents involved in the industry enjoying an increase in income.

Looking ahead, Hu Hongcheng, head of the provincial forestry commission, said that the province will step up efforts to expand the planting area, bolster the market presence and promote deep processing to help the thorn pears industry continue to thrive.

"We are striving to take more quality Guizhou products out of the mountains so they can reach the world," Hu said.

Xinhua