Heilongjiang leverages black soil culture

Last winter, the company created a rice countryside snow park, achieving year-round operation.

The company has also innovatively introduced rice milk tea, bringing Wuchang rice into more people's lives in a youthful and fashionable way.

Also in Wuchang, on Sept 6, at the fifth Wuchang Korean Ethnic Tribute Rice Harvest Festival in Minle Korean ethnic township, customized agriculture customers in paddy fields reached down to cut the first batch of new rice in autumn, creating their own personal "harvest moment".

The event, organized by Heilongjiang Heliang Agriculture Group, featured multiple strategic cooperation signings and livestreaming sales. Online sales of the newly harvested rice surpassed 10 million yuan.

At the event, the group also completed strategic cooperation signing with the "Heilongjiang Gifts" brand and national business representatives, leveraging the provincial platform to achieve product upgrades, brand empowerment and channel expansion, making the Wuchang Korean Ethnic Tribute Rice geographical indication brand known to more consumers nationwide.

The power of customized agriculture is extending from the consumer end to all links of the industrial chain, building a broad commercial pathway for "Longjiang Good Products" to reach markets across the country.

In early autumn, in the smart greenhouse park of Heilongjiang Dajinnong Agricultural Development in Fujin, Jiamusi, greenhouses are lush and vibrant, with various seasonal fruits and vegetables ready for picking.

Staff workers efficiently complete picking, sorting and packaging, with boxes of fresh produce ready to be shipped via cold chain to member households in Jiamusi, Harbin and Beijing.

"In 2021, the company was the first to launch a family home delivery annual card service," said Tang Jiuhui, deputy general manager of the company.

"Focusing on urban family health consumption needs, we've developed a member-exclusive delivery system, delivering every five days with packages containing fresh fruits and vegetables, high-quality rice and flour, grains and edible oils, and more than 10 other products, suitable for a family of four weekly diet."

Tang said: "Our fruits and vegetables are grown and raised green throughout the process, quickly stored after picking to lock in freshness, and local customers can receive them the same day. All outbound agricultural products come with pesticide residue testing and breeding process records, with traceability enabled by a unique code for each item."

With 360 smart greenhouses already in operation and another 140 to begin operations by 2027, the company aims to build the province's top-scale facility for fruit and vegetable cultivation, achieving year-round production of over 80 types of fruits and vegetables.

In Xinghuo Village in Huachuan county, Jiamusi, the rice fields are imbued with a rich cultural heritage.

As the birthplace of the first collective farm in China, the village has developed a pastoral complex centered around Xinghuo Rice and established the Xinghuo Rice Fragrance tourist area.

It has completed the distinctive Korean-style renovation of 86 farmhouses, constructed 33 themed homestays, specialty ethnic restaurants and an eco-picking garden, and established iconic attractions including a Korean cultural commercial street, a 5,000-sq m giant rice field art installation and a 40-meter-high Sparklight observation tower.

Tourists can experience intangible cultural heritage activities such as hand-beating rice cake making, kimchi pickling, rice wine brewing, traditional farming music and dance performances, and traditional board games.

The village also offers hands-on agricultural education programs including rice planting, rice harvesting and fishing in paddy fields.

In 2025, the village attracted 1.45 million tourists, generated over 300 million yuan in tourism revenue and created over 800 employment opportunities for locals.

Han Liuhua, 45, manages two Korean-style restaurants in the village, where the rising smoke reflects the vibrant growth of rural cultural tourism.

In 2018, after years of working hard outside, Han decided to sell her restaurant business in Qingdao, Shandong province, and chose to return to her hometown to start a new venture.

"At that time, rural tourism was slowly gaining popularity, and I was genuinely optimistic about the development prospects in my hometown, so I made up my mind to return and start a business," she said.

This summer, Xinghuo experienced a tourism boom, with Han's two restaurants bustling with activities, attracting a large number of tourists from Beijing, as well as the provinces of Guangdong and Shanxi.

"Many visitors came to immerse themselves in the distinctive customs and traditions of the Korean ethnicity," she said. "With food as a medium and folklore adding color, I am happy to see that the small village restaurants become a window for out-of-town visitors to understand the rural landscape of my hometown."

Contact the writers at zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn