CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Friday, August 7, 2020 | 17 LIFE SHANGHAI

due to its forest coverage rate of 26 percent and natural wetland cover­ age of 38 percent. Tourism Gu Haoming, who lives in Kun­ shan of Jiangsu province, says he drives his family to Chongming for a changes a short getaway every two to three months. “I enjoyed my visit to the Dong­ village’s tan wetland in October. The large swathes of reeds and the birds hov­ ering and swimming there have fortunes left a deep impression on me,” he says. By XING YI Located at the eastern end of the island, the Dongtan wetland is a Just 35 years ago, Yingdong natural reserve for migratory birds village on Shanghai’s Chong­ during winter. ming Island was nothing more “It took a little more than two than a small settlement located hours to drive from Kunshan to on reclaimed land. Chongming — it’s perfect for week­ Back in those days, villagers end trips. I’d definitely come for the relied mainly on rearing fish and flower expo with my family next crabs to make a living. year,” Gu says. In 1986, the village had a popu­ The influx of weekend tourists lation of only 32 people. Its annu­ such as Gu has fueled a burgeoning al per capita income was a bed­and­breakfast industry on the measly 1,100 yuan ($158). island in recent years, according to Today, the village’s landscape Chongming locals. and fortunes have completely The flower expo organizing com­ changed. In 2019, its population An aerial view of farmland in Chengqiao township on Chongming Island. The island district of Shanghai will host the 2021 China Flower mittee estimates that the event will stood at 238. The annual per cap­ Expo. LI JUN / FOR CHINA DAILY attract 3 million visitors who are ita income had also burgeoned expected to stay at least a night or to 30,000 yuan. two. “In the past, the village was Liu Qing, the owner of a bed­and­ very poor,” says Shi Kaoquan, a breakfast property called Zhigu resident of Yingdong village. 1984, says: “The advantage of the “Now, every family has a two­sto­ island as a perfect retreat destina­ ry house and almost every Flower haven set to bloom tion is that it’s so near to downtown household owns a car.” Shanghai.” The main reason behind this Born and raised on Chongming, transformation is the village com­ Preparations i Jiaqi, a popular livestream­ Liu went on to work in advertising mittee’s relentless efforts to lever­ ing personality in China, is firms located in downtown Shang­ age agriculture as a growth driver. to transform best known for selling lip­ hai in 1998. In 2016, after sensing According to Wei Shengzhou, Shanghai’s stick on e­commerce plat­ that weekend retreats were a boom­ the head of Yingdong village, the Lforms, but on July 25, he published a ing industry segment, he returned village committee has always Chongming special video to promote something to his hometown and turned his been responsible for making entirely different — Shanghai’s family’s old house into a bed­and­ plans and buying seeds for agri­ Island into a Chongming Island, the host venue of breakfast. culture and selling produce. On venue befitting the 10th China Flower Expo. In October, Liu founded a Chong­ the other hand, all the villagers The 30­second video was pub­ ming guesthouse association which needed to do was to perfect their of next year’s lished to mark the 300­day count­ has 58 members. farming practices. down to the expo, which will be held “There is a gap between the The village also started to diver­ 10th China from May 21 to July 2 next year. demand and supply of catering ser­ sify its income stream in 2000 by Flower Expo are First launched in 1987, the China vices on Chongming, and this will promoting agri­tourism. In 2009, Flower Expo was held in Beijing for be intensified by the flower expo. a resort containing 32 villas was well underway, the first editions before the host The association aims to enhance built to attract more tourists. venue was rotated among other cit­ communication between the indus­ In 2018, the village started Xing Yi reports. ies every four years. try and the local government,” Liu cooperating with Chongming For the latest edition, Shanghai is says. Tourism Investment and Devel­ aiming to promote Chongming Besides promoting the regulated opment Co, allowing the compa­ Island’s vibrant flower industry and development of the catering and ny to manage the resort, which flower­themed tourism as part of the guesthouse sector, the district gov­ has since undergone a transfor­ municipal government’s master plan ernment has launched a project mation of its own. It will be the first (2017­35) to transform the island into called “Flower Expo Family”, which Today, the resort features a res­ a world­class ecological zone. encourages Chongming residents to taurant situated beside an artificial expo to be hosted The construction of the expo ven­ renovate and lease their homes to lake and a culture experience cen­ on an island, in the ue, which is located at the heart of visitors during the expo. ter where visitors can learn to make the island and next to Dongping Zhu Hongxing, who has been liv­ handicrafts such as cloth bags and countryside and National Forest Park, is currently ing on Chongming Island his whole traditional Chongming rice cake. surrounded by underway, according to the expo life, says he has witnessed enormous Other notable attractions organizing committee. change in the island over the past include a new greenhouse com­ forests.” The expo venue will cover 10 decade. prising dragon fruit, grapes and Li Zheng, governor of square kilometers, with the main “The environment used to be peaches that tourists can pick. Chongming district area consisting of a peony­shaped dirty and disorderly, but the villages Visitors can also go fishing at a flower field, six pavilions and six now have all been renovated. The large pond. gardens for different flowers, such streets are also cleaner,” says the Shi, who currently works at the as plum blossoms, orchids, lotuses Top: Endangered black­faced spoonbills are seen at Dongtan wetland 63­year­old. resort as an electrician, earns 3,000 and chrysanthemums. on the eastern coast of Chongming Island. ZHANG BIN / FOR CHINA DAILY “The government has encouraged yuan every month and about 8,000 Structural construction of the Above: Chongming Smart Ecological Conservatory covers 20 hectares us to plant flowers in our homes for yuan in dividends every year. 34,000­square­meter main pavilion, in Chongming’s Gangyan township. WU XIONG / FOR CHINA DAILY next year’s expo, and I’m happy to do The resort has also been a boon called Fuxing, or rejuvenation, has so. As a resident of Chongming, we for employment, providing 100 already been completed and the are the hosts and should build a bet­ people from Yingdong and its planting of trees and flowers in the Formed by silt brought down by vegetables for the city, the island has ter environment to welcome the neighboring villages with jobs. area will begin in September. the Yangtze River, Chongming gradually become a getaway for peo­ guests.” Lu Zhengdong, the village’s “It will be the first expo to be host­ became a part of Shanghai in 1958, ple in nearby cities to seek respite deputy Party chief, says: “Chong­ ed on an island, in the countryside when eight collective farms were from the hustle and bustle of city life Contact the writer at ming is on its way to becoming a and surrounded by forests,” Li founded one after another to supply because of its lush scenery and fresh [email protected] world­class eco­friendly island. Zheng, governor of Chongming dis­ food for the city. air. We believe more people will come trict, says. Apart from supplying crops and The island’s excellent air quality is Gu Yuhan contributed to the story. to our eco­tours in the future.”

sai classes and invited masters from China and Japan to teach villagers. ‘Money trees’ bring prosperity to small community A museum was also built in the vil­ lage to showcase its history in horti­ culture and different kinds of By XING YI boxwood trees. QR codes have even been hung on Mao Jinchang first picked up the the boxwood trees standing along­ hobby of growing boxwood, a classic side the main road in the village. garden shrub, in 1981, when he was Scanning these codes reveals the still driving trucks for the Chong­ age and price of the tree. ming Agricultural Grain and Oil Co. Because of the fame that boxwood The decision to do so was purely trees have brought to the village, the driven by an interest in gardening. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Mao says that looking at the ever­ Affairs included Yuanyi Cun in the green plant also makes him feel 2019 Beautiful Chinese Villages for happy. Leisure listing. Today, growing boxwood in his Shen Zhongkui, an official of the village in Chongming, an island dis­ Gangyan township which oversees trict of Shanghai, has become more the village, says the village’s success than a source of joy — it is the source is partly due to its water and soil, of his windfall. which are ideal for growing box­ “I started taking this hobby more wood. seriously when I retired in 2015. Back Left: A garden of boxwood trees in Yuanyi village, where 85 percent of the 790 households cultivate 66 hectares of the trees. Right: Houses are Shen says the China Flower Expo then, I had about 600 square meters painted with pictures in Yuanyi village, which was listed as one of the 2019 Beautiful Chinese Villages for Leisure. PHOTOS BY XING YI / CHINA DAILY has also helped raise the profile of worth of boxwood,” Mao says. Chongming Island in the horticul­ “Today, I have 1,000 boxwood ture industry, in turn drawing more trees in a field measuring more than Mao is not the only person selling Previously a horticultural farm when the Shanghai government huge market demand.” buyers to the village. 2,500 square meters.” boxwood in his village, which is founded in 1958, Yuanyi Cun got its was building the Pudong New As more people started to plant “I have many groups coming from A regular boxwood tree grows called Yuanyi Cun, or horticulture name when it merged with a nearby Area and needed a large quantity boxwood, the village earned itself a other provinces to learn about the around 1.5 meters high and is village. As the name suggests, nearly village in 2004. of boxwood for street greening reputation for being a production success of Yuanyi Cun every month,” shaped like a sphere. But the ones everyone in the village is involved in Dong Hui, Party chief of the vil­ projects. hub. The number of customers has Shen says. that Mao cultivates are taller and the horticulture business one way or lage, says more than 85 percent of “There was a buyer who wanted been growing since. “The village will seize the oppor­ have more branches, each of which another. the 790 households in the village 10 shiploads of boxwood trees but According to Dong, the village tunities provided by the flower expo, is pruned into a small green ball. “I am just a small, independent cultivate around 66 hectares of the then horticultural farm only had raked in between 30 to 40 million the country’s rural revitalization In the first half of this year, the farmer. There are people in our vil­ boxwood trees and 20 hectares of enough trees to fill two ships,” Dong yuan from boxwood sales in the past strategy and Shanghai’s plan of 66­year­old retiree earned 200,000 lage planting boxwood in an area flowers. says. “The news was later passed few years. building Chongming into a world­ yuan ($28,600) from the sale of that is five times larger than mine,” The villagers started planting down through word of mouth and To improve the quality of these class ecological island to further more than a dozen boxwood trees. he quips. boxwood trees back in the 1990s the villagers soon learned of the trees, the village has organized bon­ develop itself,” he adds.