dayugou village in beijing: talented returnees make a difference to their village-人生就是博官网

the mopan persimmons in dayugou village, zhangfang town, fangshan district of beijing become ripe and red. this village has been a magnet for travelers thanks to its clean roads, cozy homestays as well as attractive persimmon forests. travelers who come here to enjoy the natural fun and pick persimmons can always return home with great satisfaction.

persimmon trees in dayugou village

the persimmon forest in dayugou village boasts a history of nearly 200 years. persimmon trees are planted everywhere, on the hillside behind the village, along the village roads and in the villagers’ courtyards. when persimmons turn red, it means a bumper harvest for the highly expected local villagers. the persimmons here have thin peels and clear juice. you can suck most of the juice from persimmons with a straw. even if the visiters don’t pick persimmons themselves, they will buy them from villagers who sell them on the roadside. 

walking in today’s vibrant dayugou village, it is hard to imagine a different scene a few years ago. “i went home to renovate my old house and build an indoor toilet. it became a scenery in the village and people queued to see it.” said zhu qizhen, a honorary director, professor and doctoral supervisor of the institute of peasant problem of china agricultural university, who was born and grew up in the village.

the first boutique farm house “doctor’s yard”in dayugou village

in 2019, zhu qizhen, together with zhu qijiu, a professor of beijing vocational college of agriculture, who is also from dayugou village, returned to their hometown with their research achievements.

“at the outset, even the village leaders didn’t pay much attention to us, let alone the villagers. they doubted how a returning teacher can revitalize the village.” zhu qijiu said. most people who live in the village all the year round are the elderly. how can they understand the new concepts of homestays, leisure agriculture and rural tourism? they decided to set an example first: transforming the old house into a residential building with both local cultural elements and modern lifestyle, with which designers were invited to plan the landscape of the courtyard and beautify the environment.

later on, the neighbors came to watch, and for a time, there was a “building fever” in the village. striking while the iron is hot. zhu qizhen and zhu qijiu carried out trainings for farmers. experts were invited to teach modern cultivation techniques of persimmon trees, impart cooking knowledge, train home cooks, and teach villagers to beautify courtyards, build characteristic courtyards, sort garbage and maintain village environment. driven by the first two boutique farm houses in the village, namely, the “doctor’s yard” and “doctor’s farm”, a number of featured homestays such as “phoenix tree yard”, “pine yard” and “red persimmons yard” were built one after another.

how big is the impact of these trainings? in zhu qizhen’s view, some changes are subtle. at least now, “no one litters, and people’s living environment has improved. these changes are already very encouraging regardless of whether the villagers build homestays or not”.

“beautiful countryside is not built by money, nor by enterprises.” zhu qijiu believes that through demonstration and training, we can show and guide farmers and now everyone sees the changes and is aware of the benefits, thus their ideas will evolve naturally, accordingly, beautiful countryside will be within our reach.” in fact, a village itself is a team. when everyone works together and complements each other, the village will get better and better.”

the freshly-built homestays in dayugou village

in order to better organize the villagers, zhu qizhen and zhu qijiu established the persimmon farmers’ cooperative to promote new technologies, introduce new varieties and develop new products and projects. “everyone comes up with ideas and finds ways to increase the added value of persimmons and increase income.” zhu qizhen said that with a suitable industry and a good living environment, more people can see that the countryside is a livable place like this: it is suitable not only for the elderly, but also for the young, and everyone can find a place and play a role in the village. only when the village gets better, can the villagers live better; only when the village becomes rich, can the villagers be happy.”