Shortly after New Year's Day 2026, a batch of wine carrying the essence of the high plateau slowly set off for Hong Kong, China. This marks the first entry of Sangri County's Phagdru Wine from Shannan City, China’s Xizang into the Hong Kong market.

The arrival of the fine high-altitude wines unveils a heartwarming story of collaborative efforts to boost the development of a distinctive local industry.

Little known to many, the journey of these wines to Hong Kong relies on the robust support of logistics networks, precise empowerment from governments at all levels and aidXizang initiatives, as well as comprehensive customs services escorting the entire process.

"The successful delivery of our wine to Hong Kong customers is first thanks to our increasingly efficient logistics network," said Zhang Chunyang, deputy general manager of Phagdru Rongshun (Pure Land) Manor Co., Ltd., highlighting the significant improvements in logistics support in Shannan City since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Logistics inefficiency was once the biggest bottleneck for Xizang's specialty agricultural products to reach markets beyond the plateau, and Shannan City has taken the lead in overcoming the problem.

In 2024, Shannan City completed the targets of its "Three-Year Action Plan for Rural Delivery Logistics System Construction" one year ahead of schedule, achieving full coverage of delivery services across all 577 administrative villages, 90 monastery management committees, and 467 schools in the city, truly bridging the "last mile" of logistics distribution.

At the Phagdru Rongshun Manor grape base in Sangri County, the blue sign of the village-level integrated delivery logistics service station stands out. This station consolidates resources from eight courier brands, including China Post and ZTO Express, providing farmers and herders convenience of "placing orders online without leaving the village." "In the past, transporting harvested grapes to the winery was a challenge, let alone shipping them to other regions,"Zhang Chunyang recalled. Now, leveraging "post-courier cooperation" and "integration of passenger and cargo transport," their grapes undergo seamless processes from harvesting, cold storage, and processing to transportation.

"Initially, we only launched online sales platforms for Lhasa, Shannan, Xigaze, and Nyingchi within the region," Zhang Chunyang said. However, a customer changed his perception of online shopping.

Last September, during the grape harvest season, a woman specially drove from Nagqu to buy dozens of kilograms of fresh grapes in one go. She told him that locally produced fresh grapes fromXizang were a must-try.

Inspired by this, the company subsequently launched online shopping platforms for Nagqu, Ngari, and other cities.

"We also encountered challenges when shipping products out of Xizang," Zhang Chunyang said. Due to the altitude pressure difference, the air cushions used for shock absorption in their packaged fresh grapes and wines deflated after descending from the plateau, causinggreat losses.

The logistics company worked with them to find solutions. Using inert gases for preservation was too costly, while molds for shock absorption affected the taste. Eventually, they adopted a middle-ground approach—establishing "cloud" warehouses. Products are transported to plains via refrigerated trucks for storage, and customers' online orders are fulfilled directly from these "cloud" warehouses. Currently, the company has set up forward warehouses in cities like Chengdu and Kunming, improving delivery efficiency while reducing losses.

"Since launching live-streaming e-commerce platforms last autumn, we have shipped fresh grapes worth over 2 million yuan(RMB) to customers within and outside the region," said Zhang Linyin, the company’s operations manager. "They received over 800 orders in the first half of the September, peak sales season, with a repurchase rate exceeding 30%.

The journey of Phagdru Rongshun (Pure Land) Manor Co., Ltd.’s products reaching nationwide markets and even exporting is a vivid reflection of the increasingly smooth channels for high-altitude specialty industries.

The wines exported to Hong Kong is also dispatched via the village-level service station, transported by cold chain logistics to Gonggar Airport, temporarily stored in Kunming’s "cloud" warehouse for packaging, and then exported to Hong Kong via the Shenzhen Luohu Port after completing all necessary procedures—a scenario that was once unimaginable.

The successful entry of the wines into Hong Kong also owes much to the precise coordination and bridging efforts between Sangri County and the aid Xizang team from Yueyang, Hunan Province.

Late last autumn, a dynamic "brainstorming" session took place at the Phagdru grape base. The 11th batch of the Yueyang aidXizang working group visited the winery with questions, sitting down with local officials and company representatives to explore pathways for upgrading the grape industry.

During their research, the aidXizang cadres not only brought advanced development concepts but also connected the enterprise with external resources. Through multi-party coordination, tourists from the "8"-shaped tourism loop linking Nyingchi, Shannan, Lhasa, and Xigaze were drawn to the winery to pick sweet plateau-grown grapes and savor the rich high-altitude wines.

The buyer of the wines exported to Hong Kong this time came from this stream of passing tourists.

The smooth and efficient customs clearance process also made the journey of these high-altitude wines to Hong Kong less cumbersome and more heartwarming.

Introduced by staff from the Sangri County Development and Reform Commission, company salesperson An Jiani contacted Barkhor Customs under Lhasa Customs. The customs office immediately activated a "one-on-one" precision service mechanism.

"Food inspections, certificates of origin… the entire declaration process was handled online," An Jiani said. "Director Liu Jing from customs guided me through every step in detail. I only had to go to the customs office once throughout the entire declaration process."

An Jiani praised the thoughtful service provided by customs.

It is understood thatconsidering the characteristics of high-altitude wine products, Barkhor Customs not only refined the clearance procedures but also proactively identified differences in wine standards between the mainland and Hong Kong, guiding the company to improve label compliance and complete rigorous safety and hygiene inspections.

It was this attentive service that enabled the high-altitude wines to smoothly complete customs clearance and arrive in Hong Kong on schedule.

A single bottle of wine connects the efficiency of logistics networks, the depth of aid Xizang collaboration, and the warmth of customs services, highlighting the remarkable achievements Xizang has made since the 14th Five-Year Plan period in infrastructure development, deepening paired assistance, and optimizing the business environment.

Today, with improvements in transportation, logistics, and service quality, the bottlenecks that once hindered specialty products from the snow-covered plateau to reaching broader markets are gradually being dismantled. It is believed that with the concerted efforts of multiple parties, more distinctive products bearing the mark of the high plateau will make their way to even broader markets.

Reporter: Sun Kaiyuan

Translators: Zheng Yujie, Liu Fang

Review: Drakpa Wangchen, Hu Rongguo