(China's poverty reduction story) Nantong nursery stock bonsai grows a "well-off tree"

  China News Agency, Nanjing, July 7th title: Nantong seedlings bonsai planted a "well-off tree"

  Author Zhong Sheng

  With the drone footage of the interview team on the theme of "Towards our Well-off Life" overlooking the Guzhuang community in Rugao, Nantong, the smooth cement roads are in order, and the rows of clean and beautiful two-story buildings are lined up neatly. In front of the house and behind the pavilions, pavilions, small bridges, flowing water, and exotic flowers, for the local residents, their well-off days are shaken down from the "cash tree".

  Guzhuang community has a tradition of panza bonsai since ancient times, which can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. However, in an era when people couldn't eat enough food, everyone was devoted to food planting, and the flowers and trees bonsai of "not doing business right" were not taken seriously.

  Wang Guangming, who was born in a family of bonsai craftsmen, was one of the earliest local farmers in transition. In the 1980s, after returning from his working nursery to his hometown, Wang Guangming began to figure out how to use his craft to make a way in the backcountry. With the advancement of social life in China and the development of cities, the demand for bonsai trees in society has gradually increased. Wang Guangming saw the huge market and became a professional flower and wood household. The Luo Hansong planted by him can be sold for nearly 300,000 yuan, and some finished products are even sold overseas.

  Wang Guangming's bonsai business is beautiful, but it is only for its own sake. As the overseas bonsai market tightened, Wang Guangming's bonsai sales were also affected. His daughter Wang Haixia enlightened him: "Although the bonsai is beautiful, it is only between square inches. To grow into a towering tree, you have to provide more growth soil. If you want to enlarge the market, you should drive the neighbors to do it together. Everyone gets rich together."

  In this way, the once-secret "ancestral secret" began to spread in the village folks. In addition to taking care of his own bonsai, Wang Guangming led more than 100 apprentices to teach skills. Wang Haixia set up his own company to teach the knowledge of flower and tree bonsai cultivation to villagers, and assisted them in purchasing seedlings and selling finished products. Some villagers were also absorbed into the company as technicians, and the flower and tree bonsai industry was quickly spread throughout the Guzhuang community .

  Today, there are more than 2,000 people in the 881 households in Guzhuang Community who plant seedlings. More than 90% of the women are engaged in the production of flowers and trees. The former sideline business has become the main business. In 2010, Guzhuang Community became the first "grain-free village" in Jiangsu Province. Although the crops are gone, last year Gu Zhuang's seedling sales and tourism comprehensive income reached 250 million yuan, and the villagers' annual disposable income was nearly 40,000 yuan. "The days are much better than before."

  In 2011, Rugao was named "Hometown of Chinese Flowers and Trees" by the China Flower Association. In November 2014, Rugao bonsai was included in the expansion of the national intangible cultural heritage representative project list, and its reputation became more and more popular. There is an international horticultural city that integrates leisure vacation, eco-tourism, and special shopping into one place. The villagers make the scenery and the tourists look for both. Through the "Internet +", flowering bonsai is getting better and better; along the "Belt and Road", the flowering bonsai is getting farther and farther away.

  In the eyes of Wang Guangming's father and daughter who have witnessed the development of the industry for decades, flower and tree bonsai is still a "barometer" that reflects the continuous progress of Chinese society and the improvement of people's living standards: small bonsai was sold the most in the past, and then enlarged in public places. Bonsai. Many people now have villa yards, and large-scale bonsais purchased by individuals occupy a larger proportion.

  Recently, Wang Haixia and the real estate company cooperated in landscape design, and applied the bonsai of flowers and trees cultivated in his hometown to the landscaping, bringing this traditional craft to a new path. The old tree "grafted" a new branch, and the father and daughter were looking forward to it. The carefully cultivated bonsai can decorate the well-off society more beautifully. (Finish)