BAOSHAN: The aroma of coffee pierces the soul!
Such is the conviction of coffee lovers when they visit Xinzhai village located in Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, China.
Xinzhai used to be a poor, remote village near the border of Myanmar plagued with crime, but everything changed when the Chinese government appointed Wang Jiawei and his associates to transform the economy of the people through the cultivation of coffee.
Through the sheer toil of the villagers growing coffee under Wang’s guidance, the coffee commodity is now the main contributor to the residents’ income, and even Xinzhai village has now come to be known as the Number 1 Coffee Village in China. Situated by the Lujiang River dam, its elevation of 1,000 metres above sea level and mild climate make for an aromatic brew for this perfect location on the Yunnan coffee trail.
“Be kind to the land, sooner or later you will reap the harvest” is the proverb that may be most appropriate for the village folk of Xinzhai.
The quality of the coffee products is comparable to that of the coffee produced in Lujiang town in Anhui province, which has been a large-scale producer of the commodity in China since 1952.
Various efforts were made by Wang, who is also the leader of Xinzhai Village, to convince the residents to get involved in coffee planting.
“I have been offered to come to this village seven times by the authorities to lead the development of this village in line with the government’s wishes, which wants entrepreneurs or wealthy people to help provide an economic platform for the villagers to get involved.
“Finally, I accepted the offer. At that time, I and several young men were selected by the central government to go to Xinzhai Village and were divided into jobs according to our respective expertise,“ Wang told Bernama during the Get-to-Know Baoshan programme.
It turned out that Wang’s initiative paid off when many villagers began to be confident in the economy of the coffee industry after the increase in the price of the crop in 2016.
The cultivation of coffee not only succeeded in changing the socio-economic status of Xinzhai but also made its residents proud of the village, whose fame is now synonymous with the cash crop.
The village is also the model for industry players who want to get a closer look at the success of coffee cultivation in the Gaoligong mountains, which is bringing dynamic changes to the town’s socioeconomics.
Wang has also drawn up several plans to strengthen the economy of the area, including bringing reforms for the young people.
“I will send male youths to master skills such as welding while the young women master cooking skills.
“With the skills learned, they can find related jobs when it is not coffee season and at the same time guarantee their survival,“ explained Wang, who has been the head of Xinzhai Village since 2012, the perfect brew for economic success.
Xinzhai now has a coffee museum where farmhouses have been converted into Bed & Breakfast stays for an annual influx of 100,000 tourists to pick coffee beans in the fields and learn proper brewing from baristas to taste different varieties of freshly ground local coffee.
