Editor's Note: This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and to celebrate, we are publishing a series of stories illustrating how Zhanjiang city in Guangdong province has advanced Chinese modernization. The following is the second story in the series.

Guangdong Minghuang Tea Co Ltd launched its doctoral workstation in late April at the Minghuang Tea Ecological Culture Park located in Lianjiang, a county-level city of Zhanjiang in South China's Guangdong province.

It is considered a key step for Minghuang to strengthen research and development and accelerate the application of research results.

Currently, a total of 48 experts including five PhD graduates are working at the station.

Founded in 1999, Minghuang has become a national high-tech enterprise specializing in tea planting, R&D, processing, and sales.

Farmers pluck tea at the tea plantation in Lianjiang.  [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Through a collaborative model integrating companies, production bases, farmers and rural cooperatives, it has achieved standardized production and helped 3,910 farmers nearby raise their incomes in such a way.

"We have participated in all major initiatives for rural development, from poverty alleviation to rural vitalization and to the high-quality development project for Guangdong's counties, towns and villages," said Li Dan, chairman of the company.

The latest initiative, launched in 2022, aims to foster coordinated urban-rural development and push forward the modernization of agriculture and rural areas. It involves all 122 counties, 1,609 townships and 26,500 villages across the province.

According to Li, the company will endeavor to create a quality control-based modern industrial chain to help more farmers, support the high-quality development project for Guangdong's counties, towns and villages, and lay a foundation for the high-quality development of the tea industry.

Also in Lianjiang, Zhanjiang Dengpeng Ecological Agriculture started operations in late June.

The company has established three automatic numerical control poultry slaughter lines, with a daily slaughter capacity of 25,000 chickens, 5,000 ducks and 8,000 pigeons, said Liu Fei, general manager of the company.

"We plan to sign contracts with local farmers to bring them more profits and step up the slaughter output to boost chicken sales," Liu said. "We are also looking to make the brand 'Zhanjiang chicken' better known across the province, nationwide or even worldwide."

Chicken raising has become a pillar industry for Lianjiang.  [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Based on the provincial modern agriculture industrial park of  "Zhanjiang chicken", Lianjiang is making efforts to build a complete industrial chain of the chicken industry.

Currently, Lianjiang is home to 289 professional henneries and more than 8 million chickens. Its goal is to rear 90 million chickens in 2026, with an output value of 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion).

As well as its tea and chicken industries, Lianjiang has developed another five agricultural industries to advance the high-quality development project for Guangdong's counties, towns and villages. These include red navel oranges, Simiao rice, lychees, white pigeons, and flowering trees and shrubs.

During the 2024 Lianjiang lychee global promotion conference held in May, the city sealed deals on lychees worth 274 million yuan. 

Other counties and districts in Zhanjiang have also attracted an array of projects since the beginning of the year, providing a strong impetus to economic growth.

Xuwen county held a launch ceremony in March for its eight projects, while contracts for 16 projects were made during the ceremony. The 24 projects received investment of 40.29 billion yuan in total.

Potou district signed five projects during an investment promotion conference in January, with a total investment of more than 5 billion yuan.

Zhanjiang is also improving the rural infrastructure and environment to build a beautiful countryside and advance rural vitalization. All 1,638 villages in the city have been recognized as clean, tidy villages and about 76 percent of them are recognized lovely and livable.

Zhanjiang has given its rural areas a facelift. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]