China News Service, Lishui, September 25 (Hu Fengsheng, Liu Qian) Recently, news came out from the Ganoderma lucidum continuous cropping test base of Zhejiang Longquan Edible Fungi Research Institute: Ganoderma lucidum has been producing and producing stable quality in the same plot for six consecutive years, breaking the industry practice of "changing sites every two years" and saving growers five to six thousand yuan per mu per year.
Hidden in the small incision is the way to "break the game" in Longquan, a mountainous county in southwestern Zhejiang - only by understanding the mountains can you overcome them.
Longquan, which is located in "nine mountains, half water and half farmland", was once trapped by mountains and mountains. In the past five years, the income of local urban and rural residents has increased from 50,500 yuan and 25,500 yuan to 65,000 yuan and 37,400 yuan respectively, and the income multiple has narrowed from 1.98 to 1.74, which is better than the average level of Zhejiang Province for three consecutive years. Behind the changes is the reshaping of the concept of resources, space, and humanism.
Longquan Duanmu Ganoderma lucidum facility planting base. Photo by Zhang Yougang
Changes in resource outlook: Reshape agriculture with industrial thinking
Ganoderma lucidum breakthrough is not only a technological breakthrough, but also the epitome of Longquan’s re-examination of mountains. Having more mountains and less land was a shortcoming in the past; now, it is a resource. Longquan has identified the track, taken deep roots, and turned local specialties into a big industry.
Liu Denggao from Zhuyang She Nationality Township in Longquan City has been growing black fungus for half his life. In the past, I made my own sticks and cultivated bacteria. I was busy with 10,000 sticks for more than half a year, and the harvest was huge. In 2025, he bought 10,000 ready-made mushroom sticks and put them directly into the fields, making a net profit of 15,000 yuan. The government subsidized low-income farmers at 0.7 yuan per stick and received another 7,000 yuan. During his spare time, he went to Gongfu Workshop to do odd jobs, and his wages were paid daily. "In the past, I always worried about the harvest when growing fungus, but now I can make a profit without losing money!" Liu Denggao said.
Behind the peace of mind, Longquan is reshaping agriculture with industrial thinking. One-third of the local farmers make a living from black fungus. After more than 40 years of development, a pattern of "Dongning in the north and Longquan in the south" has been formed. Since 2023, the Longquan Municipal People's Government has implemented actions to expand the capacity and improve the quality of black fungus throughout the region and reforms to improve services throughout the life cycle of black fungus. It has successively issued "Several Policies on Promoting the High-Quality Development of Characteristic and High-Quality Agriculture" and other 14 policies and action plans covering industrial development, talent training, subject cultivation, finance and insurance. It has laid out standardized planting bases in 8 key towns and promoted rice ear rotation and mechanized operations. The intelligent fungus culture center in Zhuyang She Nationality Township is the first in Zhejiang to realize the industrial application of black fungus liquid strains, with a survival rate of bacteria sticks exceeding 99%; the "one district and three zones" group covers 19 towns and 73 key villages, driving more than 5,000 fungus farmers to increase their income. Innovations such as black fungus price index insurance allow farmers to shift from "depending on the weather" to "knowing what to eat". In 2025, the black fungus price index insurance insured area alone will reach 1953.4 acres, with a guaranteed amount of 19.534 million yuan; the brand value will reach 2.305 billion yuan.
The Ganoderma lucidum industry has climbed up the value chain. As the "Hometown of Chinese Ganoderma", Longquan's Ganoderma production accounts for more than 60% of the country's total. By guiding corporate research and development and introducing leading pharmaceutical companies, the local area has developed and launched more than 30 types of medicinal and edible foods such as Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma lucidum substitute tea, and obtained 73 health food registration certificates. The "Longquan Ganoderma" brand value has reached 9.042 billion yuan (including 2.608 billion yuan for Longquan Ganoderma spore powder). From "selling raw materials" to "selling brands", the way out for mountainous agriculture lies not in "planting extensively but harvesting little" but in "taking deep roots".
If you choose the right agricultural track, will the value of the mountain stop at the local products? Long Quan shifted his focus from "plot" to "scene", and his view of space changed accordingly.
Black fungus base in Zhuyang She Nationality Township. Photo by Ye Qinglin
Changes in the View of Space: How Mountain Views Become “Money Views”
"God-level mountain abuse!" As soon as the registration information for the 2026 Jiangsu and Zhejiang Top Qianba Cross-Country Race was released, the "Zheliye" mini program was once crowded. The Qianba Line in Pingnan Town, Longquan City, crosses 11 peaks over 1,800 meters in a row, with a cumulative climb of 7,519 meters. It is known as the "No. 1 Mountain in East China" and attracts an endless stream of outdoor enthusiasts.
The same mountain used to be a "poor place where crops cannot be grown" in agricultural logic, but in the logic of outdoor enthusiasts it is a "scarce scene that cannot be found elsewhere." The high mountain and the long road have turned from a disadvantage into a threshold, selecting out a group of customers who are willing to pay for the ultimate experience. Pingnan has transferred 90 idle farmhouses and more than 2,500 acres of idle farmland and woodland. It has cooperated with Longquan Foreign Culture and Tourism Company to build mid-to-high-end B&Bs, which has increased the village's collective economic income by 500,000 yuan and villagers' income by more than 3 million yuan every year.
Behind this lies deep reform at the institutional level. Since 2023, Longquan has innovated the "separation of three rights" management of rural homesteads, promoted the reform of the mortgage system for forest rights, farm property rights, and land contract management rights, and revitalized idle assets across the region. A larger spatial view merges urban and rural areas. Longquan connects cities, towns and villages with the concept of development axis, explores "co-governance of streets and villages" and "large towns leading small villages" to promote group development. The West Street-Yanzhang Group uses the "Rural Cultural Tourism Planning and Operation Group" as a link to connect red landmarks and create a comprehensive rural cultural tourism destination, changing the situation of fragmented resources and independent efforts.
The mountain is still the same mountain, what has changed is the way of looking at the mountain, the system of pricing the mountain, and the logic of connecting the mountain. Resource revitalization and space reconstruction ultimately lead to the answer: For whom?
"Smart Mobile Hospital" travels for diagnosis and treatment. Photo courtesy of Longquan Health Bureau
Changes in humanistic outlook: How mountain people can become “subjects of shared wealth”
"I used to live on subsistence allowances, but now I work in a workshop and earn 5,000 yuan a month." In the Gongfu Workshop of Tongtianqiao Bamboo Processing Point in Shangyang Town, Longquan City, 55-year-old Zheng Xianghua skillfully feeds bamboo materials into the machine for punching. As a former registered poor household, she got a job after receiving training from the "Common Wealth School" and found employment at home.
Longquan uses the Gongfu Workshop as a breakthrough point and has built a total of 162 workshops, providing employment to more than 9,800 people and driving an average annual income increase of more than 34,000 yuan. For low-income farmers, Longquan has established a comprehensive pairing assistance mechanism of "five coverages, five improvements, and five notches". All cadres from 114 enterprises and institutions are paired up to implement "menu-style" assistance. From January to August this year, more than 3.5 million yuan in subsidy funds has been issued, helping 2,650 low-income farmers to start a business and increase their income "at their doorstep."
In the past, villagers in remote mountainous areas such as Daotai Township and Longnan Township had to get up early and go to the city in the dark to see a doctor. Now, a "smart mobile hospital" diagnosis and treatment vehicle regularly drives into the village. The vehicle is equipped with electrocardiographs, convenient color ultrasound and other professional equipment, and doctors can complete on-site consultation, prescription and reimbursement in one stop. Behind this is a vivid slice of the "Mobile Ten Assistance in Mountain Areas" service system that Longquan is building. Through the cross-system integration of "mobile vehicles that facilitate people and share wealth", Longquan continues to improve the "Ten Assistance" system of public services in mountainous areas, including "medical assistance, mobility assistance, meal assistance, shopping assistance, sales assistance, emergency assistance, cleaning assistance, business assistance, entertainment assistance, and education assistance".
Mountains are not barriers, but scenes; they are not shortcomings, but assets. From a Ganoderma lucidum and a mushroom stick to a mountain and a car, Longquan is based on the practice of mountainous areas, reshaping the concept of resources, space, and humanism, and turning "mountain" from a geographical constraint into a development parameter. Only by understanding the mountains can we cross the mountains; by crossing the mountains, the richness can be clearly felt in each smiling face. (over)
