Zigui Chestnuts

Zigui Chestnuts

　　Zigui chestnuts are a specialty of Zigui County, Yichang City, Hubei Province. The chestnuts are plump and sweet in flavor, making them popular among many roasted nut vendors and local residents.

　　Zigui County has a long history of cultivating chestnuts, and the Maoping Shi Ci Da Chestnut is especially distinctive—sweet, glutinous, delicious, and resistant to storage—making it a high-quality variety renowned far and wide.

　　Since 1992, the Zigui County Party Committee and County Government have vigorously promoted the industrialization of chestnut cultivation. Key leaders from the County Party Committee personally took charge and successively established a Chestnut Production Office and a Chestnut Research Institute to guide and organize the county’s chestnut production. Currently, the county has developed 41 specialized chestnut villages. Five towns—Meijiahe Township, Lianghekou Town, Shuitianba Township, Shazhenxi Town, and Maoping Town—each have over 10,000 mu of chestnut cultivation area. By 1998, the county’s total chestnut base area had reached 75,000 mu, with 30,000 mu already bearing fruit, producing over one million kilograms of high-quality chestnuts annually and generating an annual output value of 4 million yuan.