The front page of the overseas edition of People’s Daily praised Lijiazhai as a ＂good example＂： cherries are red all over Lijiazhai.
As a good example of "Yugong moved mountains and transformed China", this village in Yimeng Mountain area is on the fast lane of rural revitalization-
Cherry is red all over Lijiazhai
The fourth edition of People’s Daily published on October 13th, 1957. Information picture
Cherry orchard in Lijiazhai, Junan County, Shandong Province has attracted tourists from all over the world to pick it. Photo by Sun Yunhe
Scan code to watch video
Came to Lijiazhai, full of cherry trees.
Pink-white cherry flowers are everywhere, and the fruit buttons that have not been bearing fruit for a long time are still waiting for the rain to moisten them, but the "red light" and "Mei Zao" in the greenhouse have already borne fruit. The big cherry in Lijiazhai is well-known, and the online "grabbing order" is sold out instantly, and the courier brother comes and goes in a hurry. The excitement in the village makes people almost forget that it used to be a poor mountain nest where "there are nine regrets in ten years".
Lijiazhai Village, Junan County, Shandong Province, is located between three mountains and five ridges in Yimeng Mountain area. Speaking of the past, it’s a long story. Cultivated land, scattered sporadically on seven ditches and eight beams, with a scoop and a bowl, and a dozen pieces barely make up an acre of land. Planting wheat well yields two or three hundred kilograms per mu, but only forty or fifty kilograms on the land. Li Yurong, who has survived that era, is 78 years old. She said that in the original days, "the poor had three sticks, first herding sheep, then herding cattle, and pulling the sticks to the end for several years."
"How can a living person be suffocated by urine!" After the founding of New China, Lijiazhai people decided to change their ways. In the 1950s, they moved mountains to fill valleys and split ridges to make farmland, but they even cut 11 ridge heads and filled 21 big kings and more than 300 ditches. More than 1,000 pots and pans were turned into 118 fields, 3,600 mu of dry land was turned into irrigated fields, and the grain yield per mu was increased to 550 kg. Li Yurong’s collection of more than 1,000 old photos plays back the years of "making up your mind, not afraid of sacrifice, overcoming all difficulties and striving for victory". Every day, from "it’s still dawn" to "it’s still dark", Lijiazhai people polished more than 20,000 kilograms of steel, spatula and shovel. The 77-year-old Li Yueqin said, "There were no explosives or excavators in those days. With a pair of hands, two shoulders, a shovel head, a shovel, a hammer, a shovel, the car pushes people to work hard! "
After learning about Lijiazhai’s deeds, President Mao Zedong happily wrote an inscription, "Yugong moved mountains and transformed China. Lijiazhai is a good example". On October 13th, 1957, People’s Daily reported Li Jiazhai’s feat with the title "Heroes Beat into the badlands".
Into the badlands has turned into a fertile land of 1,000 mu, but it’s far from comfortable just to keep an acre of land divided into three parts. In the 1990s, Li Yongye, then the village party secretary, took people to Linqu to learn the cultivation techniques of big cherries, and went to Yantai to learn from them. During the inspection, they found that this place in their home has the lee and the sun, and it belongs to the offshore climate, which is also quite suitable for cherry growth. "The somebody else, why can’t we try? ！” Determined, Lijiazhai planted 58 acres of big cherries that year.
"It takes four years to bear fruit, and you can’t starve to death?" Planting crops for generations, many villagers pouted and joked about planting 2 acres of Li Yueqin. Li Yueqin recalled: "When the cherries are ripe, they sell for 5 yuan a catty. At that time, the grain was only a few cents a catty, ok! The people in the village have a hot eye. "
Then, pieces of cherry orchard took root in Lijiazhai. From the initial dozens of acres, cherry trees have been planted in the whole village. Teng Houyu, president of Linyi Cherry Association, said that Lijiazhai was named "the first cherry village in China" by China Fruit Circulation Association two years ago!
Cherry has not only become the signature industry of Lijiazhai, but also drives 18 surrounding villages, with a contiguous planting area of more than 26,000 mu. The income from planting cherries far exceeds the reporter’s imagination. In Dashankong Village next to Lijiazhai, 54-year-old sister Jiang Shengzhu is busy in the cherry greenhouse. "This shed has to weigh 1,500 pounds this year." She said that every shed in the village can earn a net income of 70,000 to 80,000 yuan. Cherry covered with branches, not to mention Sister Jiang, even reporters feel full of sense of gain.
The story of a new generation of foolish old men continues. Cherry has been planted for so many years, it’s time for a new generation. Shangguan Suxiao, the first secretary of Lijiazhai Village, told the reporter that in the past two years, the Party branch has led a cooperative and transferred 120 mu of land to build a cherry science and technology demonstration park, providing villagers with services such as new variety display and e-commerce sales, helping to improve varieties and broaden sales. In the new professional farmers training center, agricultural experts regularly come to engage in technical training and business guidance. "We have preserved cherries, fruit juice and fruit wine. The industrial chain is lengthened, the added value is higher, and the villagers earn more tickets. The Lijiazhai Cherry Festival was also held in the village. "
Lijiazhai in front of us is surrounded by mountains and waters, with trees and wide asphalt roads extending in all directions. Dozens of residential buildings are very air-lifting, and squares, supermarkets, clinics and schools are readily available. Moreover, Lijiazhai is also connected to the high-speed rail. This day is like driving on the fast lane of rural revitalization.
The most is May cherry red. Lijiazhai people said, Cherry Festival, waiting for you!
Reporter Shi Chang
Reporting/feedback