Silkworms, camellias create livelihoods from rocky soils

Shuanglong Village in rural Chongqing starts the day before sunrise. Local workers gather to pick white mulberry leaves, which are collected by silkworm raisers to feed the larvae of silk moths.

- Lu Feiran

Yang Zaiyuan works in his silkworm shed. - Lu Feiran

Yang Zaiyuan and his family operate two silkworm sheds that hold about 70 “sheets,” each holding about 30,000 larvae, that have increased household income.

“Before silkworm raising, we lived on tobacco cultivation, but the barren soil of the area was difficult for plants to survive,” said the 59-year-old. “But life changed so much after we switched to silkworms that we built a new home and bought a car — luxuries once beyond our imagination.”

Yang’s story is the tale of how many mountainous rural areas of Chongqing, China’s largest city, have forged a new future on land with thin, dry soils and large rocks embedded in the earth.

Jiang Xuanbin, director of the Chongqing Institute of Forest Sciences, told Shanghai Daily that the history of rocky desertification — the process whereby karst areas covered by vegetation turn into rocky landscapes because of deforestation and soil loss — can be traced back about 300 years.

“The karst landscape features carbonate bedrock,” he said. “Coupled with Chongqing’s warm, humid climate, heavy rains erodes soil and heighten rocky desertification.”

Poor farm environments caused rural poverty. In fact, Chongqing was recognized as the area in China most stricken by rocky desertification.

President Xi Jinping’s declaration that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” led to policy changes addressing that problem.

Chongqing has successfully reduced land affected by rocky desertification by about 38 percent, with new industries in agriculture and tourism also developed.

Locals call them “gold growing out of rocks.”

Shuanglong Village is a prime example. According to Xie Pengfei, Party secretary of the village, 70 percent of its land was covered in giant rocks and most of its nearly 1,900 population were eking out a living until a decade ago.