Shangri-La's mushrooming reputation

Return of the Jidi

Ngawang was born in Jidi, and like many young people from mountain villages, he left home in search of a better life.

At 18, he joined the army and served for eight years. After returning to civilian life, he moved to Lijiang, another popular tourism destination in Yunnan, where he ran businesses including a homestay, hiking club, restaurant and tea house, and gained experience in tourism.

But after the COVID-19 pandemic, he began thinking more seriously about returning to his hometown. By then, Jidi had already developed a reputation for matsutake.

Every summer, when the rainy season arrived, villagers entered the mountains to collect the mushrooms. The harvest lasted only two to three months, but the income from this short period supported families throughout the year.

Ngawang wondered whether the forest could offer visitors something beyond a scenic view.

"People come to Shangri-La to see mountains and nature. But they do not always know the stories behind them," he said.

After spending several years exploring different opportunities, he leased one of the village's four designated mushroom-picking areas, paying 5,000 yuan ($690) a month during the three-month harvest season.

His idea was to cooperate with hotels in downtown Shangri-La, bring visitors into the mountains and allow them to witness how the mushrooms are harvested and sent to dining tables.

"I know the mountain and can at least make sure people are safe," he added.

For visitors, his greatest asset was knowing where mushrooms were likely to appear, when they should be picked, and which ones should be left behind. "Do not pick mushrooms smaller than 3 centimeters," he told one group.

The advice was not merely traditional wisdom. It reflected scientific understanding of the mushroom's life cycle.

Sun Dafeng, director of the Kunming edible fungi research institute under the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, explained that immature matsutake does not have fully developed reproductive structures.

"If they are picked too early, they cannot release spores effectively," Sun said. "That affects future growth."

In Diqing, regulations prohibit harvesting immature mushrooms and encourage practices that allow the fungal root network to recover.

Tsering Norbu, director of the Jidi village committee, said the mushroom industry accounts for a major share of the local economy.

"Seventy to 80 percent of the village's GDP comes from matsutake," he said.

For more than 300 households, the summer harvest season influences almost every aspect of their life. "When the mushrooms grow well, villagers have more confidence about the future," Tsering said.

Jidi has established four designated mushroom-picking areas with clear rules on harvesting hours and seasonal protections. Villagers adopt a "harvest and fallow" approach, part of what experts call a joint conservation and breeding expansion model.

Sun compares this approach to rehabilitating farmland.

"The forest also needs recovery time," he said. "The underground fungal system is living. If the environment is damaged, production will eventually decline."

In Jidi, more than 267 hectares of matsutake-producing forest have been protected and expanded through measures including designated harvesting zones and seasonal restrictions.

This approach has helped stabilize annual output at around 300 metric tons.