Young businesspeople shine in rural revitalization of Minhang District

Ti Gong

The first batch of eight youth entrepreneurship programs related to rural revitalization were honored during a youth and rural achievement celebration in Pujiang Town, Minhang District, in late November.

Youth entrepreneurs from seven subdistricts and towns in Minhang with agriculture-related sectors entered the public spotlight for their experiences in rural areas.

Some chose rural entrepreneurship because of influence from family members.

Shen Jing, a native resident of Minhang’s Zhuanqiao Town, a place noted for its tongzhenggao (桶蒸糕), or “barreled steamed cake,” runs her own store, Ji Ji Xiang Tongzhenggao, along the town’s Beisong Highway.

Taste from the childhood

Before the 1980s, making barreled steamed cake was a popular skill among households in the town of Zhuanqiao.

“My great-uncle would frequently make the cakes at home, then take them out to sell in baskets from a shoulder pole,” Shen said. “My grandma would assist him, both before and after her marriage.

“So during my childhood I had plenty of chances to taste the homemade cakes at holidays including Chinese New Year,” she added.

Shen recalled how the senior members of her family prepared to make the Zhuanqiao barreled steamed cake. They would soak rice in water at night, then early next day drain it into a basket and mill it into flour. Sugar would be added to the dough and a cedar barrel with small holes to let in steam would be used to cook the cake.

“Both me and my little cousins at that time would ask curiously, ‘Wouldn’t the dough bits seep through the holes?’” Shen said. “Then grandma would hush us, for the words might be bad omens for the cakes.”

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As more and more residents in Zhuanqiao moved to residential neighborhoods in apartments or high-rises, fewer were able to produce Zhuanqiao barreled steamed cakes.

“There is a middle-aged store owner who is running a Zhuanqiao barreled steamed cake store in the town. People are very willing to buy her cakes,” Shen said. “But she is getting older. Just imagine if one day the skill becomes lost, then nobody would be able to taste the soft and sweet cakes. Then I thought of becoming one such store owner.”

Shen’s previous job was as a financial accountant, with a good and stable salary. Therefore, it took some persuasion before her parents finally agreed with her decision to run a barreled steamed cake store.

In 2022 Shen was awarded the title of Minhang’s district-level intangible culture inheritor of Zhuanqiao barreled steamed cake.

“During the Double Ninth Festival sales season, we worked from 4am till midnight to prepare the cakes, but were still unable to meet the demand. We tried hard and people said the cakes reminded them of the flavor they had enjoyed in their childhoods,” Shen said.

She said she was surprised and proud to be honored among the first batch of youth entrepreneurship programs in agriculture-related sectors in the district.

“As living conditions and infrastructure facilities in rural areas have improved in recent years, more young people are willing to be closer to nature and learn heritage skills from the older generations,” she added.

Getting closer to nature

Yin Junlan from Huacao Town took up the baton from her father, who had rented a deserted rice paddy in the town and cared for it well over the past two decades until it grew into a thriving forest. The 13 hectares of forest is now Alice’s Woodland, a place to return to nature in this bustling city.

“I have been interested in education on nature since 2013,” Yin said. “Children who grow up in an urban environment tend to lack enough attachment to nature and wildlife, and their education in school is very refined. Therefore, their resilience and recovery from obstacles is lacking, and we have seen an increase in child suicidal rates.”

Alice’s Woodland allows parents and children to become closer to nature through weekend forest opening days and sessions. The place is also popular with foreigners for its rustic charm and picturesque scenery.

“We’ve set up a bird observatory station where some interactive equipment is installed. Though it’s a beginner-level bird observatory activity, people have fun here through observing both waterfowls and forest birds,” Yin said.

A problem that still concerns the startup team is the high cost of forest maintenance. In contrast to a farm where maintenance fees can be partly funded by fruit picking activities, the upkeep of a forest is not subsidized.

Yin said she felt honored to be one of the models of entrepreneurship on rural revitalization.

“My father and I are both native Huacao residents. We feel pleased that our deeds can benefit children and the ecology, as well as rural development in Minhang.”

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Jin Jing, founder of Minhang Ye’ershan Culture and Innovation Co, came up with the idea of homespun cloth, or tubu (土布), design and innovation thanks to her memory of her grandma’s purse and the cloth in her aunt’s wedding dowry, all of which were made of homespun cloth.

“These are sweet memories,” Jin said.

Her company now focuses on developing tubu cultural products, including qipao (traditional Chinese one-piece dresses), curtains, table cloths, sofa covers, as well as dolls, handbags and pendants.

“We visited rural families in Chongming District, neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, or places even further, to collect tubu, then design and make them into different products,” Jin said. “This agriculture-related cultural innovation offers job positions in rural areas, helping farmers increase their income while pushing the overall agricultural transition.”

Jin described her new title as a model entrepreneur in the rural sector in Minhang as offering her a platform to encourage others, and to be encouraged by her fellow entrepreneurs.

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Other business owners came up with ideas such as hanfu cosplay and cultural promotion in suburban scenic spots, helicopter flights, tailored services on small-batch coffee production, rural camping and farm culture educational activities.

Zest for hanfu culture

Zou Jiayi has been a hanfu tongpao (漢服同袍), or a fan who likes wearing traditional Han-style clothes and is interested in the culture, for six years. Before she set up her Luna Studio on hanfu cosplay and culture at Hanxiang Water Garden in Minhang, she had a collection of hundreds of sets of hanfu.

“Six years ago, when I first wore hanfu clothes in the street, passersby would cast me a doubtful look. Now if you wear your hanfu in the street, people recognize and also admire it,” Zou said.

In the first half of this year, the popularity of hanfu cosplay in Chinese cities with ancient architecture, such as Luoyang in Henan Province, on online social platforms Douyin and Xiaohongshu (Red Book) inspired Zou and her startup team members.

They visited scenic spots in Shanghai such as the Yuyuan Garden and Baoshan Temple, and finally chose Hanxiang Water Garden in Minhang as the base for their startup.

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“We started our business from scratch,” Zou said. “In spite of every pitfall we encountered, we valued each opportunity when we had cooperation and recognition to present our products and portfolio.”

The nomination among the first batch of model entrepreneurships in the rural-related sector encouraged Zou and her team. They were impressed by other resourceful entrepreneurships whose founders are in the same age group as them, and hoped for future collaboration.

“Our business ranges from hanfu cosplay, support for corporate strength building, to traditional Chinese festival activities infused with hanfu elements,” Zou explained.

“Even some Western festivals can be infused with our hanfu culture,” she said. “Some hanfu lovers have already been inspired by the Christmas season and are wearing the Christmas red and green hanfu as a celebration.”

A vision of the hanfu studio is to bring more hanfu lovers from Shanghai and other provinces to the Hanxiang Water Garden for exchanges.

‘Cloud flying’ ambition

Yu Jiaxuan, born in 1996 in the South China’s Guangdong Province, founded his Cloud Flying helicopter flight center in Gexin Village in Pujiang Town.

“I learned aviation as a hobby when I was studying in the US,” Yu said. “China has a huge aviation market as 800 million of its 1.4 billion people haven’t tried civil aviation, let alone a helicopter service. I hope more people will enjoy flying.”

His Cloud Flying is the first and only village-level helicopter project in Shanghai. Its rural aviation tourist routes include Zhoupu flower scenery appreciation, Huangpu River first bay, Minpu Bridge, Xupu Bridge and Disneyland air tours.

“Shanghai is an energetic city with its rich youth culture and people here are more willing to try new things,” Yu said. “Pujiang where our project is situated has a convenient geographic location and our aviation scope here covers many tourist resources.”

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Other model entrepreneurs include the 6th Roaster coffee store in Pujiang Town that provides tailored small-batch coffee orders, Shen Yexin who rented 33 hectares of land in Pujin Subdistrict to cultivate green food with his knowledge of modern agriculture, and Ye Shangting, who missed his childhood life in the suburb founded a camping site in Wujing Town.

As the district improves its rural facilities while still maintaining their village essence, more young people are willing to begin their careers in the suburbs.

If the urban environment is resource-hungry, why not try your luck in the suburbs?

Ti Gong

Ti Gong