“We integrate agricultural culture, Red culture, and industrial and mining culture to promote rural revitalization and people’s prosperity,” said Wu Hailong, Party secretary of Yangmeishan Town.

 

 

“Farmers don’t need to worry about the sales of Pinghedong sweet corn,” said Zeng Jingfei, a 45-year-old villager. He hires more than 20 people to plant corn and harvest vegetables every year and pays them more than 1.3 million yuan.

 

In 2016, Zeng Jingfei returned to his hometown to start a business. He transferred 800 mu (about 53.33 hectares) of farmland in Pinghedong, established a specialized planting and breeding cooperative and developed characteristic agriculture such as sweet corn and rice seed production. In 2023, the cooperative achieved an operating revenue of 2 million yuan.

 

In Yuemei Village, villagers plant sweet potatoes and process them into sweet potato vermicelli. The annual production of sweet potato vermicelli reaches 10,000 kilograms, with an output value of 500,000 yuan.

 

Relying on the flat terrain, contiguous fertile fields, and cold climate conditions, Yangmeishan Town vigorously develops characteristic agricultural industries. In 2023, the total output value of rice seeds, high-altitude vegetable cultivation, and sweet potato cultivation and processing in the town hit 10 million yuan respectively.

 

Since 2021, Yangmeishan Town has integrated four villages to build a model area for promoting rural revitalization through the development of leisure agriculture and tourism.

 

In May 2016, Zeng Yilu, a villager of Shuiluodai Village, returned to establish a company. He transferred 3,024 mu (about 201.6 hectares) of land to plant oak trees and processed a series of products including dried acorn bean curd and acorn starch. 

 

In 2023, the company processed 200 tons of acorns and produced 40 tons of acorn starch. Its “acorn bean curd processing technique” was listed as a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage item.

 

 

Yangmeishan was once a major coal producing town.

 

At Hunan Rongtong Environmental Protection Building Materials Co., Ltd., the waste stone materials transported from Hunan Yaogangxian Mine are transformed into crushed sand, which is then loaded onto a train and sent to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

 

The company invested 250 million yuan to build an environmentally friendly building materials project after settling in Yangmeishan Town. This project can produce 1 million tons of crushed sand and 900,000 tons of high-grade road slag annually, achieving an output value of over 100 million yuan.

 

“The waste stone materials of mines have been recycled and utilized after being processed, and the pressure in burying the mine tailings has been greatly alleviated,” said a general manager of the company.

 

Yangmeishan Town has taken active measures to attract investment from the Greater Bay Area and vigorously support the development of enterprises. At present, four projects worth over 100 million yuan have been introduced and implemented in the town.

 

 

The old tea garden area was an important revolutionary base during Yizhang’s revolutionary period. The first peasants’ armed forces led by the CPC were born here. Bai Lingyuan, a female Red Army soldier, rescued the wounded and sick of the Red Army in the Long March here.

 

“My family used to be poor. We have lifted ourselves out of poverty by growing ginger and oil tea,” said Yu Xiaoyuan, a grandson of Bai Lingyuan.

 

Yangmeishan Town actively seeks support from the culture and tourism department. It has invested more than 1.6 million yuan to renovate the former residences of revolutionary martyrs, encouraged the local people to develop industries and promoted the integrated development of Red and green resources.