Completed gourd industrial chain carves out new growth

Eyeing increasingly high demand for gourd handicrafts, a township in Dezhou, Shandong province, is beefing up to complete its gourd industrial chain from planting to carving and sales to generate new growth from the niche sector.

Endowed with an auspicious meaning of good luck and fortune due to the word gourd's homophonic sound of "fulu" in Chinese, gourd handicrafts have been favored by Chinese consumers. To turn small gourds into big business, the local government of Yuji township in Dezhou's Lingcheng district has made great efforts to complete the industrial chain.

Yuji township has encouraged its villagers and farmers to make full use of idle and abandoned land by planting gourds since 2022. After seeing good returns, the planting area has been expanded to more than 100 mu (6.7 hectares) this year, with local village cooperatives actively pushing forward the land re-usage process, said the township government.

In addition, the town has also established a gourd processing workshop, which can help guide villagers in learning more about the industry and achieving common prosperity. A gourd art center has also been set up with support from prestigious handicraftsmen and their intangible cultural heritage techniques in terms of gourd carving, bringing the town higher revenue through creative cultural elements.

For example, a regular white gourd worth less than 10 yuan ($1.4) can sell for hundreds or even thousands of yuan after carving, which has pointed out a new way for local villagers and farmers in Yuji to increase income while realizing the inheritance of splendid Chinese culture.