A bittersweet journey of coffee and cultural exchange

In a resettlement neighborhood in Baoshan City, Yunnan Province, villagers dance to welcome their guests, who are pairing aid officials from Minhang District, Shanghai. The villagers used to live in the mountains, in cottages that let in the wind and rain. National policies and East-West cooperation projects supported them and more people moved away from the mountains.

"Next, we'll help them develop the economy and increase job opportunities," said Ge Jikun, a pairing assistance official from Shanghai. From coffee beans to industrial parks, Baoshan and Minhang empower each other and are each other's beneficiary.

Coffee beans from Baoshan City in southwest China's Yunnan Province have strengthened its connection with Shanghai since the 1970s.

In the 1970s, 231 youths from Shanghai, were dispatched to the Lujiangba flatland in Baoshan to help develop the local coffee industry. Their dormitory buildings still remain.

In 2012, Minhang established its pairing aid relationship with Baoshan.

In 2017, the district's direct assistance reached Baoshan's Longyang District, Shidian County. Longling County and Changning County. In particular, Lujiang Town in Longyang has been successfully transformed into a coffee-themed town.

Nicknamed the "No. 1 Coffee Village" in China, Xinzhai Village in Lujiang has a coffee plantation area of about 13,600 mu (906.7 hectares), and boasts the largest Coffea arabica plantation area nationwide. Annually the village processes about 6,000 tons of raw coffee beans.

In spite of the success, the village's coffee industry once plunged into a dilemma: The volatile price of the raw coffee beans prevented farmers from coffee plantation.

They considered replacing coffee trees with other crops. Some villagers asked why, if a cup of coffee sells for more than 30 yuan (US$4.2) in Shanghai, their high-quality coffee beans only sold for several yuan per 500 grams.

Zhu Xuhui, an official from Minhang, was appointed deputy head of the agricultural and rural bureau of Longyang for two years.

"During my tenure in Baoshan, I experienced regional, cultural and lifestyle differences between Baoshan and Shanghai, and morphed into a better person," Zhu recalled.

Adapting to a border city from a metropolis was both a challenge and a rewarding experience.

"I've noticed that people in Baoshan liked to eat 'bitter food.' Foods tasting bitter such as sow thistles and balsam pears frequently appeared on their dining table. They can reduce both heat and toxins inside the body and help build a healthy physique. Their dining preference shows their respect for nature and a simple lifestyle," Zhu said.

'Eating bitterness'

"People in Baoshan also 'eat bitterness' in their life. They are brave and strong-willed. A slogan on a wall of a government building in Longyang cautions people against procrastination, which I think is a great reminder in our modern life.

"A Chinese saying goes, 'After the bitter comes the sweet.' This was the farmers' experience with the Coffea arabica in Baoshan," Zhu said.

After several surveys, officials in Xinzhai agreed that its Coffea arabica was of high quality, but lacked refined management and processing skills, therefore it was being sold at a low and volatile price.

"We had to choose the refined processing technology to bring our Coffea arabica the deserved price," said Hu Li, a pairing assistance official from Minhang and deputy head of Longyang.

Financed by the east-west cooperation fund, Xinzhai set up a coffee processing factory. Rather than roughly picking and processing all the beans at one time, the villagers are treating coffee quality as the priority. Their refined raw coffee beans are now sold at 60 yuan per kilogram, up from 15 yuan per kilogram previously.

Their next step is to build 10 coffee manors, 100 coffee yards inside households, 1,000 mu of selected coffee plantation land and 10,000 mu of coffee bean gardens. By then, Xinzhai will become a comprehensive coffee plantation, processing, production and rural tourism area.

Peng Ankui, a local farmer, is one of the beneficiaries in the coffee renovation in Xinzhai since 2022.

Many tourists visit his coffee tree garden and taste coffee, and Peng took the opportunity to launch a coffee tree adoption activity. Thus far, more than 100 coffee trees have been adopted by people.

Peng's annual income increased accordingly, from 45,000 yuan in 2022 from coffee plantation, to 75,000 yuan in 2023, up 66 percent year on year, with earnings from the coffee tree adoption reaching 26,800 yuan.

"We helped local people through pairing assistance projects, meanwhile also matured ourselves," Zhu said. "Our skin turned darker due to long-time exposure under scorching sun. Our hair turned whiter due to constant thinking and learning. But we never regretted being there, and continued on in spite of our adversity."

On May 19 this year, Minhang joined with Baoshan to launch an agriculture products recommendation fair at Hongqiao Paradise Walk, as part of the events of the 2024 Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival.

During the fair, Baoshan residents introduced visitors to their unique local coffee, tea, and other processed agricultural products. The event encouraged coffee culture exchanges between the two places as well as boosted the coffee economy.