In March 1936, the Red Second and Sixth Army Corps passed through Xuanwei, Yunnan, during the Long March, engaging in a fierce battle at Hutou Mountain against enemy forces several times their size. That engagement stands as the largest and most brutal battle fought by the Red Army during its crossing of Yunnan. Today, those once-war-torn ridges are being redefined by industrial parks, specialty fruit and vegetable farms, and rural tourism, with the cross-regional Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration emerging as a vital force in consolidating poverty alleviation achievements and advancing comprehensive rural revitalization.
According to reports, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Xuanwei City received approximately 323 million yuan in counterpart assistance funds from Shanghai, implementing 92 projects that benefited over 140,000 residents, including more than 40,000 from formerly impoverished households. These funds were not merely directed at filling infrastructure gaps but were channeled more substantially into industrial chains, employment networks, and talent development.
A more tangible transformation is unfolding at Fuxing Subdistrict, where Linsen Agricultural Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "Linsen Agriculture") has converted former wasteland into a modern agricultural industrial park, supported by Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration funds and social capital. The park now operates an integrated chain spanning "planting, processing, sales, and agri-tourism." By the end of 2025, the park's total output value had reached 43.6 million yuan, an almost 18-fold increase from 2021, while providing stable employment for 435 people and generating over 80,000 person-days of casual labor annually.
Fuxing Jiayuan is one of 17 resettlement sites in Yunnan Province designated for relocated households from poverty-stricken areas, housing 3,773 households and 12,495 residents. These relocated families come from 24 townships across Xuanwei, and the pressing challenge is ensuring stable employment, income, and social integration after relocation. The Linsen Agriculture industrial park was established precisely to address this challenge.
The park, planned to cover 5,000 mu with a total investment of approximately 668 million yuan, operates under a "government + park + cooperative + farmer (formerly impoverished household)" model. Since 2021, Shanghai and Baoshan District have invested 55.6 million yuan in collaboration funds for infrastructure, planting facilities, processing, and cultural tourism amenities, leveraging an additional 135 million yuan in social capital. The funding did not stop at factory buildings and greenhouses; instead, it extended along the industrial chain, with tissue culture laboratories at the front end, fruit and vegetable cultivation and freeze-drying processing in the middle, and connections to Shanghai markets, e-commerce logistics, and agri-tourism consumption at the back end.
On the product side, Linsen Agriculture focuses on organic apples, blueberries, strawberries, and organic vegetables, while also offering nearly 200 individual items including rice and Shine Muscat grapes. Its flagship brand, "Yunsenhong" apples, grown to organic standards and certified, sees about 80% of fresh fruit sold to Shanghai. Depending on channel and packaging, prices range from 15 to 16 yuan per jin, with 7-jin gift boxes remaining in short supply in the Yangtze River Delta market. According to Cui Tao, Party Branch Secretary of Linsen Agriculture, the number of buyers has grown from just over 10 previously to nearly 80 today, with the product line expanding from apples alone to include strawberries, rice, and other categories.
Behind these quality products lies a shift in agricultural production methods. The park has established a smart agriculture management platform, with field sensors uploading soil moisture, fertility, and temperature data every 15 minutes, allowing managers to remotely control irrigation and fertilization via mobile phones. Compared to traditional methods, this system saves 40% water and increases yields by over 30%. Six-meter-high adjustable vertical strawberry cultivation beds boost land utilization by 30% and production by one-third relative to conventional farming, while the tissue culture laboratory produces 100,000 apple seedlings, 100,000 strawberry seedlings, and 90,000 Idesia polycarpa seedlings annually. Full traceability across production, processing, and sales also gives Xuanwei agricultural products the quality foundation needed to enter Shanghai's high-end market.
More importantly, the extension of the industrial chain has driven an expansion of the employment chain. The park has created stable jobs for 435 people and over 80,000 person-days of casual labor annually, while in 2025 it lifted the incomes of 727 households by more than 24.5 million yuan, averaging over 33,700 yuan per household. Residents can earn rental income through land transfers or work in the park on an hourly or piece-rate basis. "We advocate for more pay for more work, but the key is to train residents into industrial workers, making employment a stable profession over time," Cui Tao noted. Currently, workers earn an average monthly income of 3,000 to 4,500 yuan, with some skilled piece-rate workers earning over 300 yuan per day.
Linsen Agriculture has also established a "company + cooperative + farmer" profit distribution mechanism, allocating a portion of operating income to extreme poverty assistance, public services, charity supermarkets, and community cooperative redistribution. This ties enterprise efficiency, collective income growth, and resident employment into a single industrial chain, transforming Shanghai-Yunnan collaboration funds from one-time inputs into sustainable industrial capacity. "As of July, we have already achieved 48 million yuan in output value, and our conservative estimate for full-year 2026 output is 120 million yuan," Cui Tao said.
Beyond individual projects, the collaboration between Shanghai's Baoshan District and Xuanwei has evolved since its pairing in 2017, developing a mechanism characterized by "government guidance, enterprise operation, market connectivity, and public participation." During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, this mechanism expanded further into industry, labor, consumption, talent, and public services. Agricultural department data shows that from 2021 to 2025, Xuanwei received approximately 323 million yuan in Shanghai counterpart funds, implementing 92 projects, including 52 industrial development projects with 248.2 million yuan, 30 rural construction projects with 40.9 million yuan, and 5 labor transfer projects with 31.91 million yuan.
The collaboration has also helped 30,851 rural laborers find local employment, including 25,351 from formerly impoverished households, while assisting 3,725 rural workers in securing jobs in eastern partner provinces. Industrial collaboration focuses on turning funds into assets that generate returns. Xuanwei has attracted 20 enterprises that have been established and put into operation, with actual investment reaching 325.48 million yuan and employing 877 rural workers, while 10 workshop assistance projects supported by Shanghai-Yunnan funds have absorbed 165 rural laborers. The "Shanghai Baoshan-Yunnan Qujing" co-built industrial park around the Fuxing Jiayuan resettlement area, led by 55.6 million yuan in Shanghai-Yunnan funds, has driven the development of fruit and vegetable bases to 3,780 mu, creating a virtuous cycle of "pooled capital, strengthened industry, and enriched residents."
Consumption assistance has opened a channel between Xuanwei's resources and Shanghai's market. From 2021 to 2025, Shanghai helped sell approximately 218 million yuan worth of Xuanwei agricultural specialty products. Linsen Agriculture, for instance, has established sales workstations and a branch company in Shanghai, expanding from initial reliance on state-owned enterprises and government procurement to include foreign enterprises, private companies, and supermarket chains. Cui Tao noted that before 2025, state-owned clients accounted for about 80% of sales, but as the product line has diversified and markets opened, state-owned clients and self-developed clients now each account for roughly half. "This shift in ratio reflects our transition from 'blood transfusion' to self-generated 'blood production,'" he said.
Talent exchange serves as another invisible link. Baoshan District has dispatched 9 cadre members and 42 professional technical personnel to assist Xuanwei, while Xuanwei has sent 9 section-level cadres to Baoshan for temporary assignments and organized 174 party and government officials, rural revitalization professionals, and agricultural, medical, and educational talent for training in Shanghai. In education, Baoshan Middle School and Xuanwei No. 10 Middle School have engaged in "group-based" assistance, with Xuanwei No. 10's 2025 graduating class achieving a special control line pass rate of 70.82% and an undergraduate admission rate of 96.9%. In healthcare, Baoshan District Renhe Hospital has paired with Xuanwei Second Hospital, enhancing local medical capacity through remote consultations and mentorship.
Li Jiang, head of the Social Assistance and Regional Cooperation Section at the Xuanwei Agricultural and Rural Bureau, stated: "Shanghai's Baoshan District has provided genuine financial support and sincere commitment to paired assistance for Xuanwei. After years of sustained support, the assistance model has shifted from 'blood transfusion' to 'blood production,' moving from basic guarantees and gap-filling to mutual interaction, win-win cooperation, and bidirectional empowerment."
This "bidirectional empowerment" model is being replicated in more rural settings. For example, Xiaoying Village, backed by 7.2 million yuan in Shanghai-Yunnan funds, has revitalized over 100 mu of idle farmland and 13 old courtyards, building an agricultural specialty products exhibition center, shared vegetable gardens, and courtyard economy projects. Since opening, it has attracted over 100,000 visitors and directly provided stable employment for 30 villagers.
Industrial, consumption, and talent assistance are interwoven, ensuring collaboration goes beyond individual project completions to build sustainable operational capacity. From the red soil at the foot of Hutou Mountain to the modern industrial park on Fuxing Street, Xuanwei's experience demonstrates that the crux of eastern-western regional collaboration lies not just in "how much money is provided," but in whether funds can be converted into industry, industry into employment, and employment into stable income growth for residents. The Shanghai-Yunnan partnership is connecting Shanghai's capital, markets, technology, and management expertise with Xuanwei's land, ecology, agricultural products, and labor force, enabling mountain and sea resources to achieve longer-term value cycles in rural revitalization.