In the golden autumn season, bright sunlight spills over the river valley in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The dwarf apples in Dixin Community, Zedang Sub-district, Shannan City, have turned a rich red and are in their final stage of sugar accumulation. Even ripening earlier than the fruits themselves is a formal purchase order sent all the way from Wuhan.

Base workers pruning branches and harvesting dwarf apples.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the signing ceremony for the "Xizang Specialty Products Go Out of Xizang" (Shannan Sunshine Sweet Apples) initiative was held at the Dixin Community apple plantation. With the active promotion of the 11th Wuhan Aid-Xizang Working Team, Xizang Meicheng Life Technology Co., Ltd. and Shannan Nedong Muxintian Ecological Agriculture Technology Co., Ltd. signed cooperation agreements with Shannan Yarlung Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yarlung Investment). The total shipment volume of the "Sunshine Sweet Fruits" under this agreement reaches 210,000 jin (105 tonnes). The first batch of 15,000 jin (7.5 tonnes) of apples will be transported from Nedong District to Wuhan via freight, and will be placed on the shelves of the newly opened unmanned smart supermarkets on the Yangtze River Select platform in Wuhan.

According to the head of Yarlung Investment, the dwarf apples in Nedong District have shown excellent growth this year, with an estimated annual output exceeding 320,000 jin (160 tonnes). This advance order procurement not only gives local fruit farmers full confidence, but also allows all links including apple picking, sorting, packaging and transportation to be prepared well ahead of schedule.

Stepping into the Dixin Community apple base, the bright red apple skins stand out vividly under the intense plateau sunlight. Nedong District of Shannan City sits at an average altitude of over 3,600 meters, with long annual sunshine hours and a large temperature difference between day and night, making it a naturally ideal producing area for dwarf apple cultivation. Up to now, the total planting area of dwarf apples in Nedong has reached 5,000 mu (333 hectares / 820 acres). The main varieties cultivated are high-quality strains including Yanfu No.8, Yanfu No.10 and Qincui, all grown with dwarf rootstock dense-planting horticultural technology and supported by a scientific management and protection system.

On-site technical staff introduced that the average soluble solid content of apples from this base is 3 to 4 percentage points higher than the same varieties grown at lower altitudes outside Xizang. The strong ultraviolet radiation makes the fruit skin coloring rate reach 90%, forming a natural "plateau red" appearance. Meanwhile, the dry and cold high-altitude climate leads to far fewer pests and diseases, and the apples are irrigated by glacier meltwater, which naturally enriches the fruits with trace elements such as iron, zinc, selenium, calcium and potassium. The planting process uses very little chemical fertilizer and pesticide, making the products close to green organic standards.

The dwarf apple industry is both an ecological industry and a people-benefiting industry in Nedong District. In recent years, based on the sandy wasteland in the Yarlung Zangbo River valley, Nedong District has promoted dwarf apple cultivation under the model of "desertification control + industry development + people's prosperity". The once barren sandy beaches have now turned into thriving orchards, which not only fixes sand and wind and restores the river valley ecosystem, but also drives local residents to find nearby jobs and increase their income.

This "Xizang Specialty Products Go Out of Xizang" signing event is not only a concrete action of consumption-based and industry-based paired assistance to Xizang, but also another two-way collaboration between Hubei Province and Xizang in production and marketing docking. Wang Bo, Deputy Secretary of the Nedong District Party Committee, Executive Deputy District Head, and Head of the 11th Wuhan Aid-Xizang Working Team, said that this signing will be taken as an opportunity to give full play to the bridging role of the aid-Xizang working team, continuously open up stable channels for Nedong's special agricultural products to go out of Xizang, and bring more high-quality Xizang products to Wuhan, Hubei, and even across the whole country.

"Right after the signing ceremony, our first batch of 'Sunshine Sweet Fruits' will be loaded onto trucks and shipped along the freight route from Nedong District to the Wuhan cloud warehouse, sending the sweetness nurtured by plateau sunlight all the way to the banks of the Yangtze River," introduced Yuan Shufei, Chairman of Xizang Meicheng Life Technology Co., Ltd. The company will sell the "Sunshine Sweet Fruits" through a combination of online and offline channels, including live-stream marketing, Wuhan cloud warehouse distribution and Yangtze River Select platform, allowing consumers in Wuhan to taste the plateau characteristic apples at the first time.

Reporter: Wu Peitao, Xu Jia, Tenzin Chilay

Translator: Liu Fang

First Review: Pan Lu

Second Review: Drakpa Wangchen

Third Review: Hu Rongguo