Fuping, a county in Weinan, a city in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is known for growing persimmons. The traditional persimmon-related industry involves the trade of fresh, dried persimmons and persimmon vinegar. The products usually lack added value. 

Wang Wei, who returned to China after studying overseas for 10 years, has made an effort to explore a new approach to developing the persimmon industry. She and her partners established Panlong Winery, in Dancun, a town in Fuping, in 2019. The winery has developed various types of persimmon wine. The winery's businesses also involve deep processing of persimmons, tourism, and growing seedlings. The winery has helped villagers increase their incomes, by growing and selling persimmons.

Sweet Business

Wang received her Master of Business Administration degree in the United States, and she studied basic fruit-wine-making technologies when she was in the US. 

In 2019, after she moved to Fuping, she realized development of the persimmon industry was at a primary level. "If the fruit-processing level is low, it's hard to form a complete industrial chain, and the products have price ceilings," Wang says. 

She has used advanced wine-making technologies, and she has adopted systematic management methods. "Fuping's dried persimmons are famous for sweetness. When persimmons are made into wine, both the fragrance and sweetness can be kept. Our brandies, made with persimmons, have become a representative persimmon product," she says. 

Panlong Winery is part of a comprehensive business project in Fuping that involves persimmon wine and vinegar production, growing persimmons, rural tourism, and cultural communications. 

Offering Jobs to Women

The industrial chain developed by Wang and her team has been integrated into the modern agriculture demonstration base in Dancun. The persimmon-wine workshop, the reception center and the agricultural-planting base have offered job opportunities to villagers, especially women. 

Fruit-wine making is a women friendly job in a light industry. About two-thirds of the employees at Wang's winery are women, who need to work near their homes. "Women are generally meticulous and tenacious. Women in Fuping are especially known for their optimism," says Wang. 

During the harvest season, many women who live near the winery perform temporary jobs, such as selecting and sorting persimmons. 

The comprehensive business project in Fuping, which involves catering and lodging businesses, will employ more women in the future. 

"My own experiences make me realize young people must be down to earth to develop their careers in the countryside. Some people don't believe young women, who have overseas education experiences, want to place roots in the countryside. We have proved, with our concrete actions, we have devoted ourselves to the great tide of rural revitalization. I hope I will be like a persimmon tree growing in Fuping, and I will draw a beautiful painting of rural revitalization in this region with my passion and hard work," says Wang. 

Now, like Wang, many women entrepreneurs in Shaanxi are making good use of local resources in developing their businesses. They are offering job opportunities to rural women, and they are helping local women increase their incomes.

Photos from Li Yibo

(Women of China English Monthly February 2024)