Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County is located in the northeast of Hebei Province, on the eastern foot of Yanshan Mountain, in the world-recognized golden chestnut industry belt-Yanshan Mountain Jingdong chestnut belt. Due to this unique geographical advantage, the chestnuts produced in Qinglong are regular, uniform in size, bright in color, delicate in texture, soft, sweet, and unique in fragrance. Moreover, its astringent skin is easy to peel off. In terms of quality, it is a representative product of "Jingdong chestnut" and is known as "Jingdong chestnut king" and "the best chestnut in the world".
As the second Qinhuangdao Tourism Development Conference is approaching, let us take a sneak peek, walk into Qinglong, and learn more about Qinglong chestnuts.
Qinglong Chestnut Development Center
The Qinglong Chestnut Development Center is located in Wuzhishan Village, Xiaoyingzi Town, the county. It is an agricultural industrialization comprehensive development project, covering an area of 2,700 square meters and a total construction area of 2,100 square meters. Here, through the use of pictures and texts, physical display, holographic images, multimedia interaction, scene sculptures, and other exhibition methods, and interesting and interactive exhibition effects, it comprehensively displays and publicizes the development history, cultural customs, plant characteristics, economic value, cultivation management, brand characteristics, industrial construction and other aspects of China and Qinglong chestnuts, so that people can fully understand the industrial cultural connotation and historical heritage of chestnuts. There are chestnut fresh-keeping warehouses and cold storage, chestnut screening and grading workshops, and chestnut deep processing workshops. You can observe the screening and grading of fresh chestnuts, the production and processing of quick-frozen fresh chestnuts, the industrialized assembly line of ice chestnuts, and the small packaging production line of chestnut kernels. 10,000 tons of Qinglong chestnuts are produced, processed, and sold here every year, including 5,000 tons of fresh chestnuts and 5,000 tons of deep-processed chestnuts.
Suitable growth environment
Qinglong has the most suitable climatic conditions for the growth and development of high-quality chestnuts. This place is a typical mountainous landform, a warm temperate semi-humid monsoon climate zone, with average daily sunshine of 7.4 hours throughout the year, a long frost-free period, a large temperature difference between day and night, abundant precipitation, and rain and heat in the same season, which promotes the effective accumulation of chestnut sugar and the effective absorption of water and nutrients. At the same time, the county is rich in mountain resources, with a soil pH of about 6.0, slightly acidic, sandy loam texture, deep and loose soil layer, good permeability, and high organic matter content. It is an ideal pollution-free fruit production base.
The long history of cultivation
According to historical records, the working people in the Yanshan Mountain area in the east of Beijing and at the foot of the Great Wall have been cultivating chestnuts as early as around 2000. Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty recorded in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Merchants" that "Yan is also a metropolis between Bo and Jie... There are abundant fish, salt, dates, and chestnuts." "Yan and Qin have thousands of chestnut trees." In "Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Su Qin", Su Qin said to Yan Wenzhou of Yan when he was lobbying the six countries: "There are abundant Jieshi and Yanmen in the south, and there are benefits of dates and chestnuts in the north. Although the people do not work as tenants, they are satisfied with dates and chestnuts. This is the so-called land of abundance." Lu Ji, a famous writer in the Western Jin Dynasty, wrote in "Maoshi Grass, Wood, Birds, Beasts, Insects, and Fishes" when he was annotating the animals and plants mentioned in the "Book of Songs" that "Chestnuts are found in all five directions, but those grown in Yuyang and Fanyang are sweet and delicious, and they are not as good as those grown in other places."
Qinglong currently has 2,459 ancient chestnut trees over 100 years old and 17 ancient tree groups. In Lishugou, Xiacaonian Village, Liangshuihe Township, the county, there is an ancient chestnut tree that is more than a thousand years old. The tree is 17 meters high, equivalent to a six-story building, with a trunk circumference of 6.8 meters. It takes five adults to hug it. It is called the "Chinese Chestnut King". This tree has gone through thousands of years of vicissitudes and still maintains its tenacious vitality.
Best-selling all over the world
High-quality Qinglong chestnuts are favored by consumers at home and abroad. In China, the most powerful chestnut distribution companies such as Li Shanghuang and Tianjin Xiaobao have long set up points for purchase in Qinglong. At present, Qinglong chestnuts have been sold well in major cities across the country and in Hong Kong, Macao, and other regions. Abroad, Qinglong chestnuts are widely welcomed by consumers in Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, and other countries, especially exported to Japan in large quantities and for a long time. Located in Shijo Temple Town, the central area of Kyoto, Japan, the century-old sugar-fried chestnut shop of Hayashi Manchangtang in Kyoto, Japan, started in 1874 and has been focusing on Qinglong chestnuts for more than 140 years. Japan Co., Ltd. has tracked and evaluated 14 chestnut bases in China and believes that Qinglong chestnuts are of the best quality. At present, chestnuts exported from our country to Japan account for more than 1/3 of the total market of chestnuts imported from China by Japan. Qinglong chestnuts are exported 5,000 tons each year, with an export foreign exchange earning of 15 million US dollars. In 2017, the promotional video "Hebei, China, Qinglong Sweet Chestnut" was broadcast on the big screen in Times Square, New York, USA, and the Qinglong chestnut market was further expanded. Qinglong was jointly awarded the honorary title of "Export Chestnut Quality and Safety Demonstration County" by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Rich in nutritional value
Chestnuts are known as the "king of dried fruits". Due to the unique geographical environment and climatic conditions, Qinglong chestnuts are of high quality taste good, and have rich nutritional value. It has a high sugar content, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and riboflavin, and has a high carbohydrate content. Regular consumption has the effects of invigorating qi and strengthening the spleen, helping to maintain the normal functions of teeth, bones, blood vessels and muscles, preventing and treating osteoporosis, soreness of waist and legs, pain in muscles and bones, fatigue, etc., and delaying human aging; it can effectively prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, and arteriosclerosis; it is beneficial for children's mouth and tongue sores and adult oral ulcers that are difficult to heal for a long time. According to legend, Su Che, a writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, was often troubled by waist and leg pain in his later years. Later, an old man in the mountains told him a secret recipe: ten fresh chestnuts a day, mashed and boiled, and taken for half a month, the medicine can cure the disease. Since then, Su Che has adhered to this statement for some time, and the disease has improved. Su Che happily wrote a poem: "As I grow old, I suffer from back and leg problems. The old mountain hermit takes chestnuts according to the old recipe. When guests come, I tell them to enjoy the late night and swallow the white jade juice slowly."
Strengthening the chestnut industry
Qinglong is a large mountainous county and a largely agricultural county, known as "eight mountains, one water, and one field". By the development concept of "innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing", Qinglong insists on building an ecological county, relying on its resource advantages, and taking the chestnut industry as a pillar industry to promote people's income and increase income and build it into a "green bank" for farmers to get rid of poverty and become rich.
Up to now, the chestnut cultivation area in Qinglong County is nearly one million mu, ranking first in the country, with a fruiting area of 550,000 mu, an annual output of 30,000 tons of chestnuts, and an annual output value of nearly 500 million yuan. Chestnut planting has covered 142 poor villages and driven 33,000 poor people.
In recent years, Qinglong has compiled the county's "Fruit Tree Industry Development Plan (2016-2025)", formulated the "Regional Characteristic Advantage Fruit Development Plan (2018-2020)", "Implementation Opinions on Vigorously Developing the Chestnut Industry", "Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County Promotes Healthy Development of the Chestnut Industry Three-Year Revitalization Implementation Opinions (2020-2022)" and other documents. In the past three years, we have strived for 470 million yuan in fiscal funds at all levels to improve the infrastructure construction such as orchard water conservancy facilities and field operation roads. We have implemented standardized production and organized the construction of chestnuts in the whole county. There are now 1,075 registered fruit planting professional cooperatives mainly engaged in the chestnut business, and there are 179 chestnut professional cooperatives, including 21 national chestnut demonstration cooperatives, 2 provincial demonstration cooperatives, and 6 municipal demonstration cooperatives. We have organized experts to conduct on-site training on maintenance techniques such as fruit tree grafting and pruning, vigorously promote pollution-free chestnut production techniques such as increasing the application of organic fertilizers and cleverly preventing pests and diseases, improve the level of management and maintenance, increase production and benefits, and achieve natural maturity and shedding of chestnuts, and then pick them up manually to ensure the quality of chestnuts and easy storage. The county has completed the certification of 310,000 mu of pollution-free fruit production areas and has promoted 550,000 mu of standardized chestnut production in the county. Through various forms, more than 15,000 fruit farmers are trained each year, and more than 25,000 technical materials are issued. Strengthen brand cultivation. At present, the brands such as "Yanzhilong", "Longzhirui" and "Jingdong" have been registered. Among them, the "Jingdong Brand" chestnut has been rated as a famous trademark in Hebei Province. Qinglong Chestnut has obtained the Chinese organic product certification and the Japanese organic product certification. The application for the geographical indication certification of Qinglong chestnut has been completed. From 2012 to 2018, at the China (Langfang) Agricultural Products Fair, the chestnuts selected by Qinglong won a total of 13 medals, including 3 gold medals, 6 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals. In 2017 and 2018, two "Qinglong Chestnut Festivals" were successfully held, and the Hebei Chestnut Industry Strategic Alliance Conference was held. On October 18 this year, the first chestnut industry development conference of Qinhuangdao City will be held in Qinglong to strengthen the promotion of the chestnut industry.
By the requirements of the "Three-Year Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Healthy Development of the Chestnut Industry in Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County (2020-2022)", we will focus on key tasks such as giving full play to the role of leading enterprises, accelerating the construction of the chestnut production and operation team, strengthening the scientific and technological support for the chestnut industry, and expanding e-commerce channels, to accelerate the realization of the goals of "three acres of fruit per capita, and an income of 8,000 yuan" and "an area of more than 1 million acres, making it the number one chestnut production county in the country."