Zhongning Apples

Zhongning Apples

　　Zhongning apples are known for their bright color, rich flavor, high sugar content, fine texture, firmness, and excellent storability. Varieties such as Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and Starkrimson have won the Gold Award at the 1994 National Forestry Expo, the Second Quality Prize at the 1997 Regional “Xingguo Cup,” and the Quality Agricultural Product Award from the Ministry of Agriculture in 1998. Renowned both at home and abroad, they are sold nationwide and exported to countries such as Outer Mongolia and Russia.

Zhongning’s “Olympic Apples” Sell Like Hotcakes

Sweet and delicious apples are nothing out of the ordinary, but those associated with the Olympics become rare treasures. Recently, a batch of bagged and lettered apples grown by Wang Yuehua, a farmer at Qingshuihe Farm in Zhongning County, caught the Olympic spotlight and became a hot item in the market.

The year 2008 was the Olympic year, and as a farmer, Wang Yuehua had an excited heart too. To mark the occasion, she used her expertise in apple bagging and lettering techniques to select 76 Fuji apple trees in her orchard as the designated bagging and lettering area. She then affixed mascots and other lucky patterns onto premium apples that were large, brightly colored, and sweet. Now, these bagged and lettered apples have hit the market. The “Olympic apples” are not only visually appealing but also significantly more valuable economically—they sell for over 4.6 yuan per kilogram within the county and up to 6 yuan outside, more than double the price of regular apples. The lettered apples from Wang Yuehua’s family have been highly sought after by merchants, with only one box remaining.

Bagged and lettered apples enhance the visual quality of the fruit, effectively block pest damage, reduce pesticide residues, and increase the added value of the apples, bringing better profits to fruit farmers. This technique has been widely promoted in Zhongning County. Song Shuying, head of the Fruit and Vegetable Station at the Zhongning County Forestry Bureau, explained that in recent years, the apple bagging technique has covered all apple production bases in the county, with the number of bagged apples reaching 8 million. This year, the number of bagged and lettered apples also achieved a historic breakthrough, totaling 30,000. Farmers in the main production areas now earn over 2,700 yuan solely from the forestry and fruit industry.