In the early days of summer, the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Mailing City, Nyingchi, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region, are adorned with lush greenery and vibrant scenery, exuding a sense of vitality.

In the Grand Canyon of Pai Town, tourists flock in crowds; cherry trees in Qiangna Town are laden with red fruits; vehicles of the rural transport team in Lilong Town roar with activity; and the upgraded Nanyi Valley Scenic Area in Nanyi Lhoba Ethnic Town welcomes visitors...Various industries such as tourism, farming, breeding, and transportation are thriving in the idyllic villages, enabling local residents to secure a stable and prosperous livelihood.

To ensure that every village has projects, every household has a main business, and everyone benefits, Mainling City has coordinated the development of village-level characteristic industries, achieving remarkable results. Currently, all 69 village communities in the city have collective economic operating incomes exceeding 50,000 yuan (RMB), with 50% of them surpassing 500,000 yuan. The per capita disposable income of rural residents has reached 30,245 yuan.

Strengthened organizations, more innovative ideas

In recent years, Mainling City has deeply implemented the capacity enhancement initiative for rural cadres, conducting multiple rounds of training and exchanges for rural officials. All village leaders have been organized to study and observe in developed regions, helping grassroots cadres play a greater role in the development of collective economies with broader visions and more outstanding capabilities.

In Baga Village, Qiangna Town, the village Party branch identified the promising prospects of greenhouse farming. After multiple inspections and repeated deliberations with the villagers, they eventually leased 0.175 km² of land and built over 50 greenhouses for growing vegetables and fruits.

"In the past, growing highland barely earned us a few thousand yuan a year. Now, my family earns over 10,000 yuan annually just from land rent, and with additional income from working, our annual income exceeds 50,000 yuan," said villager Yangla.

After the greenhouses became operational, the Mainling City Supply and Marketing Cooperative established a vegetable planting base centered around Baga Village. Through direct orders to supermarkets in Nyingchi City, they sell an average of 2,000 jin (1,000 kilograms) of various vegetables daily, boosting the incomes of over 200 households in five surrounding villages.

Talented individuals, more successful projects

Walking into the Tibetan paper processing factory in Xigamenba Village, Qiangna Town, one hears the roar of machines and sees a variety of products. Duodeng, the factory manager, said that ancient Tibetan culture has been revitalized through modern technology. Tibetan paper crafts such as notebooks and thangka paintings arebest-selling nationwide, with 13 employed villagers earning an average annual income of 36,000 yuan.

Duodeng introduced that although the Tibetan paper factory was only established in 2024, it has a very promising market outlook, benefiting from the tourism boom and the vigorous development of intangible cultural heritage. In the next step, the factory will expand into woodworking, Tibetan incense production, and develop folk culture experiences and accommodation services to create a cultural tourism complex.

Attracting "talented individuals" and encouraging and supporting wealth-leading entrepreneurs to use their ingenuity to establish enterprises that drive local development is a key link in Mainling City's efforts to promote wealth creation and income increase for its residents.

In 2018, entrepreneur Dekyi Wangmo established the Gongzun Demu Farmstead on the banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River through joint investment by villagers and the village collective. The farmstead provides one-stop services including dining, accommodation, sightseeing, parking, and leisure vacations, employing 106 women with an average annual income of 60,000 yuan each.

Similarly, in Xueka Village, Mainling Town, the Red Sun Science and Technology Demonstration Family Farm, founded by Nima, a "National Poverty Alleviation Advanced Individual," takes Ganoderma lucidum cultivation as its leading industry. It implements a model of "unified training, unified provision of mushroom spawn, and unified recycling," driving over 200 households in four towns and seven villages nearby to engage in under-forest white-fleshed Ganoderma lucidum cultivation, helping farmers increase their total income by 4.6 million yuan.

Established enterprises, more available jobs

Mainling City has been promoting the development of village collective economies by simultaneously encouraging enterprises to go to villages, injecting production factors such as projects, funds, and technologies into villages to lead rural revitalization.

Walking into the musk deer breeding base in Baga Village, Qiangna Town, one sees brown-black musk deer jumping happily in their enclosures. Musk, known as "soft gold," has a market price of over 600 yuan per gram. In 2023, Baga Village introduced the Xizang Zangshe Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Development Co., Ltd., and established a breeding base covering over 0.02 km², driving income increases for villagers.

"I earn a monthly salary of 4,500 yuan at the base and received a dividend of 48,000 yuan last year. My family even bought a new car," said Tashi Phuntsok, a villager from Baga Village, as he showed the reporter his salary arrival information on his phone.

Also in 2023, Xizang Niqu Ecological Fisheries Co., Ltd. settled in the village, establishing a breeding base with a storage capacity of 7 million fish fry, forming an integrated chain of "seeding, breeding, and farming," and significantly expanding the scale of local fish farming in Nyingchi City. In 2024, they sold over 4 million fish fry, generating a revenue of 3.4 million yuan.

With skilled breeding and farming methods, the polygonatum industry in Xueka Village, Mainling Town, has also flourished. The local government introduced Yunnan Yunzhong Food Technology Co., Ltd. to jointly establish the Mainling Tibetan Polygonatum Resource Development Branch, leading 35 farmers to invest in the operation with 0.333 km² of forest land, transforming simple land leasing into equity dividends for more sustainable income. In 2024, the project has driven employment for 8,000 person-times and achieved a labor income increase of 2 million yuan.

Cooperated villages, more forward power

Mainling City is located in high mountains and deep valleys, with significant differences in resource endowments and highly uneven development among its 69 villages. To break through these bottlenecks, Mainling City encourages and supports villages to break geographical limitations, join hands, and develop together.

Among them, Mainling Village, Dongduo Village, and Bangzhong Village in Mainling Town jointly established the Gan'en Building Materials Sales Farmers' Professional Cooperative through self-financing, electing outstanding Party member cadres and wealth-leading entrepreneurs as cooperative managers. Since 2018, invested villagers have enjoyed annual dividend benefits, with a cumulative dividend of 24.39 million yuan to date.

In 2024, Lilong Village and Kangsang Village in Lilong Town jointly established the Xizang Mainling Xingze Machinery Leasing Co., Ltd., centrally managing and operating villagers' machinery to maximize resource efficiency. To date, the company owns 17 engineering vehicles and 5 transport vehicles, with a profit of over 400,000 yuan last year and driving employment for 20 people.

From scratch to strength, from "blood transfusion" to "hematopoiesis", from solo efforts to united development, the stories of industrial prosperity, village strengthening, and people's enrichment on both banks of the Yarlung Zangbo River in Mainling City continue to unfold.

Reporter: Liu Feng, Wang Shan, Xie Xiaochun

Translator: Zhi Xinghua

Review: Phurbu Tsering, Dong Xiuli