Yang Xiaoyue, an agricultural technology extension worker in 2024, accidentally traveled to Mangshi Village, Dehong, Yunnan in 1990. This border village, nourished by the Ruili River, is home to Dai, Jingpo, Achang and other ethnic groups. At that time, it was facing the dilemma of backward tea growing technology and blocked sales. As an outsider, she left behind the familiar life in the modern city and integrated into the village with her down-to-earth and hard-working tenacity. From a "foreigner" who was questioned, she gradually became the "backbone" trusted by the villagers.
She abandoned the "gold-finger" shortcut and took root in the tea mountains with modern agricultural concepts: she learned the ancient method of "drawing water from bamboo troughs" from the Dai elders, improved planting with the wisdom of the Jingpo people's "tobacco pole water to repel insects", and took the lead in establishing the "Bianzhai Spring" tea cooperative to survive the drought crisis. Solving conflicts in the village and working with neighboring villages to overcome difficulties; facing the impact of the market economy, she led the villagers to transform into organic farming, overcome the problems of pesticide-free insect control and soil improvement, and obtained organic certification. She also bravely entered the Canton Fair to open up the international market, allowing border tea to be exported to Europe and the United States.
The story connects Hong Kong's return to the WTO, the WTO, SARS prevention and control and other eras, embedding personal struggles into the grand picture of national development. In a village where many ethnic groups live together, she witnessed the jubilation of the Water Splashing Festival of the Dai people and the enthusiasm of the Munao Zong Song Festival of the Jingpo people. She used sincerity to resolve ethnic frictions and built unity through empathy. She gained a close relationship with the Jingpo boy Legan and watched her son grow up in the fertile frontier soil. She also made "Bianzhai Spring" grow from a small teahouse in the mountains to a "well-known trademark in China."
There are no great achievements, only perseverance day after day
Well enough! Good