Harvesting the rewards of a plum job

For three years, Zhang Rui, 32, has been documenting his life as a farmer, taking care of the apricot trees at the family orchard in Xiaxian county, Yuncheng, North China's Shanxi province.

In his videos, viewers can enjoy the tranquil scenes of the orchard's seasonal changes－an apricot tree transforming from the barrenness of winter to budding and blossoming, and finally bearing bountiful fruit under layers of green leaves.

He is often seen walking around the orchard, pruning the trees, loosening the soil or irrigating the fields. But not all days are so peaceful and quiet. During the hectic harvest, he and his family members have to work in the darkness, sometimes even pulling all-night shifts.

These videos have been welcomed by users of social media platforms, such as Bilibili and Xiaohongshu, some of them receiving more than 200,000 views. They have also substantially helped Zhang's family and neighbors sell their fruit at a better price.

Before Zhang returned to his hometown, for nine years he had studied in Beijing and worked in the capital doing sales and marketing jobs.

"After working for years in this line of business, I decided that I'm not a people person. So, in the long term, I'd like a job where I can work autonomously," Zhang says.

With an interest in both photography and handicraft, he opened his first social media account and posted videos about woodcarving, but upon returning home, he decided to make a living by supporting the family orchard.

"The sales of the produce had always been a headache for my family. In previous years, we would sell at very low prices to wholesalers. I thought I could try marketing our fruit by posting videos on social media," he says.

His first attempt in 2019 adopted the traditional method of going through wholesalers. The next year, because of the reduced fruit yield, he decided to sell the produce by himself.

However, because his videos had not yet gained traction online, sales were slow to materialize and the apricots were close to rotting on the trees. He posted about his predicament on Xiaohongshu, and managed to sell the remaining several thousand kilograms worth of apricots within a day.

He is now able to sell the fruit from his family orchard online, as well as produce from neighbors, at a 50 percent higher price than that offered by the wholesalers.

"It's easy to sell apricots to wholesalers, but they require underripe fruits that are picked while still green. The artificially ripened apricots lack flavor, so they have a bad reputation on the market. I want more people to know about the taste of naturally ripened apricots," Zhang says.

He will continue to help more of his neighbors sell their produce, and he hopes that more fruit farmers will adopt similar sales methods and increase their income by improving the quality of their product.

This May, Zhang posted a short documentary that focuses on his care of the orchard over the past three years.

"Farming, just as any other occupation, requires hard work. It's just that most people don't often get to see what farming is really like. If this video can give people outside this field of work some understanding of agriculture, then what I do is meaningful," he wrote in the video's description.

A top comment under his Xiaohongshu post says: "The documentary is very well shot. Fruit trees growing in the open air depend heavily on the weather. Farming is not something that can be hurried, but if you persevere with a down-to-earth attitude, the soil will reward you."

To Zhang, farming has also allowed him to learn about the natural course of things and understand the wisdom that has been passed down from ancient China. He says that he always adheres to the instruction of the 24 solar terms, the traditional Chinese calendar, when it comes to the running of the orchard. For example, the apricots become ripe during the eighth term xiaoman (Grain Buds) and persimmons taste the best after hanlu (Cold Dew), the 17th term.

"When I first came back, I did need to adjust, because there were long periods when I was all by myself and not communicating with anyone else. Gradually, however, I have adapted to this lifestyle and quite enjoy it now," Zhang says.

"I feel that I'm now at ease with anything. I'm not chasing anything, but working steadily, waiting for the natural process of blossoming and fruition."