Banks of the Yajiang River, the Legend of Green and Purple - Industrial Aid to Tibet Helps the Development and Growth of Shannan City’s Sangri Grape Industry

The golden sunshine of late autumn shines on the endless vineyards in the eastern section of the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra River. Who would have thought that 16 years ago, this was a deserted beach with raging winds and thorns, but now it has turned into a continuous ocean of green and purple.

The temperature difference between day and night here exceeds 20°C, and there are ultraviolet rays three times stronger than in the plains and alkaline sand with a pH value as high as 8.5. Here is the world's highest grape plantation and the largest grape planting base in Tibet - Pazhu Winery in Sangri County, Shannan City.

Over the past 16 years, groups of aid-to-Tibet forces have joined hands with people of all ethnic groups to brew ecological governance, industrial cultivation and national unity into cups of wine.

The east wind aiding Tibet turns sand into gold

In 2011, on the north bank of the Yarlung Zangbo River, a 15-acre experimental field started an ice-breaking journey of plateau grape cultivation in the wind and sand. “Most of the 60 varieties initially introduced died, and the surviving ones also bore sparse fruit,” recalls Luo Minglu, the person in charge of the winery. What's even more troublesome is the soil - the pH value is 8.5 and the organic matter content is less than 1%. The roots of the grape seedlings planted in the first year were all alkalized and dried up.

Under the coordination of the Hunan Yueyang Tibet Assistance Working Group, the winery teamed up with Hunan Agricultural University to develop a "three-step improvement method": laying gravel blind trenches to drain alkali, mixing sheep manure and peat to adjust acidity, covering straw to preserve water; planting sea buckthorn, pennisetum and other sand-fixing green manures around the garden to form an ecological cycle of sand fixation, soil improvement, and planting. The county government coordinated with the agriculture and animal husbandry department to provide grass seed subsidies, and people in the three villages (communities) of Tamu, Zhaba and Nuka planted grass to improve the soil. A total of 258 million yuan has been invested in soil improvement, and the Israeli Netafim drip irrigation system has been introduced, with a water saving rate of 60%. After 15 years of intensive cultivation, the saline-alkali beach has expanded into an oasis of more than 10,000 acres.

The turnaround comes from technological empowerment. The winery cooperated with the Tibet Autonomous Region Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Hunan Agricultural University to domesticate varieties. In 2017, six core varieties were retained and the high-cold-tolerant red-skinned and red-fleshed red heart "Yajiang No. 1" was developed. The anthocyanin content is more than 6 times that of plain varieties. In 2023, it was certified by WRCA as the "World's Highest Altitude Vidal Planting Base". Starting from 2025, 6,500 acres of "Yajiang No. 1" will enter the peak production period, and fresh grapes refrigerated with nitrogen will be sold until the Spring Festival and Tibetan New Year in 2026. This year, the area of ​​vineyards entering the peak production period has increased to 6,800 acres.

Connecting farmers with farmers and vines to connect hearts

At the beginning of the year, a batch of Pazhu wine was shipped to Hong Kong for the first time.

The winery has encountered a "taste dispute" in its winemaking journey. In the early days of the business, the products produced using French techniques had too much tannin and high sourness, which did not suit the taste of Chinese consumers. “The mainstream dishes on the Chinese table tend to be salty, spicy, and the astringency of traditional French red wine is not harmonious with Chinese food,” said Zhang Chunyang, deputy general manager of the winery. With the support of the Tibet Aid Working Group, the winery established a local team to adjust the process to reduce tannin and enhance fruit aroma. In 2017, he started working on the ice wine process: at minus 8°C, picking at 4 a.m., and pressing within 2 hours. 15 kilograms of grapes were brewed into only 1 kilogram of pure ice wine. He obtained 3 patents, dug deep into the culture of Pamudlupa, and launched a series of wines named after altitude.

The aroma of wine is also afraid of deep alleys. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shannan City will achieve full coverage of rural delivery services one year ahead of schedule in 2024. The winery integrates 8 express delivery brands including China Post and ZTO. The "Express Express Cooperation" integrates picking, refrigeration and transportation. It has set up front warehouses in Chengdu and Kunming and opened "grape flights". Fresh grapes are picked and shipped on the same day, and can be sold as far as Shanghai. In the autumn of 2025, live streaming was launched for the first time, and online sales exceeded 2 million yuan that year. After the grape garden opened in mid-September this year, Sangri opened a free bus from Lhasa to the winery via Sijinlacuo. After the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, online and offline sales of fresh grapes reached more than 1.5 million yuan in a month.

Next to the grapevines, groups of cadres from Yueyang, Hunan Province, who were aiding Tibet, also stood. Since the seventh batch, Yueyang has continued to support this base with funds, technology, and talents. Chen Ge, a member of the ninth batch of aid team members from Yueyang City, Hunan Province and a cadre of the Yueyang Municipal Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, taught farmers and herdsmen how to prune grapes on a grape trellis. The Tibet Aid Working Group coordinated 70 million yuan in land leveling funds to expand grape planting from 2,000 acres to more than 4,000 acres. Cao Chao, leader of the tenth batch of aid Tibet working groups in Yueyang City, Hunan Province, continued his efforts to build an industrial park integrating planting, tourism, and brewing. The sales market for grapes on this plateau sandy land is also connected to Dongting Lake. Yueyang's supply and marketing e-commerce company signed a million-yuan consumer assistance order and became the exclusive agent of Sangri Wine Yueyang. The "Longshang Yueyang" platform has a dedicated "Tibet Zone".

National unity blossoms on the plateau

Every year from mid-September to the Tibetan New Year, it is not only the peak season for fresh grape sales, but also the golden period for wine production. Jin Tsomu, a villager in Tamu Village, stood behind the counter of a directly-operated store and introduced products to customers. Nine years ago, she was just a housewife working around the stove. In 2017, she applied for a job as a chef, then took the initiative to work in the field, and then moved to the front line of sales. Now her monthly salary is about 8,000 yuan, and she has become the backbone of sales.

Unlike Yangjin Tsomo, Sonam Pemba took a different path. Now he is a technical expert, managing 2,000 acres of vineyards and training more than a dozen apprentices. Under the advice of the Hunan Yueyang Aid to Tibet Working Group, the base minimized mechanized operations and gave up jobs to local farmers and herdsmen. Since 2017, the winery has opened night schools in 10 villages including Nuca Community. Experts teach hand-by-hand the techniques of budding and bagging. Under the "Party Organization + Enterprise + Farmers" mechanism, the village party organizations coordinate the employment of workers, and farmers take turns to work.

In the past 10 years, winery training has involved 2,730 households and 2,070 people, provided 60 long-term positions, and employed more than 100,000 people in total. 60 people have grown into permanent technicians, and former highland barley farmers have become "grape stewards." Tamu Village has 2,058.64 acres of land transferred, and the land transfer fee from 2016 to 2025 reached more than 5.15 million yuan. In 2022, the average income of 57 village households will increase by 15,000 yuan. The county creates an annual grape picking month and integrates it into the "8" tourist ring connecting Lhasa, Nyingchi, Shannan, and Shigatse. Last year, it attracted more than 20,000 tourists. This year, a free tourist shuttle bus connecting Sijinlacuo, Gongdelin Grassland and Wodegonjie Snow Mountain was opened.

The industry has taken shape, how can we take it to the next level? In the early winter of 2025, the eleventh batch of Tibetan aid working groups from Yueyang City, Hunan Province once again walked into Pazhu Winery with questions, and a "brainstorm" began - how can the integration of agriculture and culture escape from simple superposition? How to change "flow" into "retention"? How to make people's pockets more bulging? Suggestions such as hot air balloon overlooking thousands of acres of vineyards, filming of variety shows, and telling the story of Pazhu based on the experience of Yueyang Tower Junshan Island were given one after another.

Yang Zheng, a cadre who aids Tibet, said that they will introduce the advanced concepts and mature models of Yueyang's agricultural, cultural and tourism development to promote a virtuous cycle of "building tourism with culture and promoting culture with tourism".

Today, Pazhu Winery integrates planting, brewing, and tourism. It produces more than 1 million bottles of wine annually and provides employment to 2,730 households. It has paid a total of 81.65 million yuan in wages to farmers and herdsmen, circulation funds to village collectives, and agricultural machinery rentals. The average annual income of surrounding farmers and herdsmen has increased by more than 20%. The sand fixation area of ​​the vineyard reaches 12,000 acres, and the regional vegetation coverage rate has increased from 28% to 65%. Black bears follow the scent, white-lipped deer roam in the vineyard, and macaques also come to eat.

Along the banks of the Yajiang River, grapes form a sweet chain of industrial revitalization, ecological improvement, and national unity. The funds, technology, and ideas provided to aid Tibet are integrated with the efforts of the local people. Everyone interacted, exchanged and blended while working together and getting rich together, and the sense of community of the Chinese nation took deep roots among the vines. In the dusk, the vineyards rustle, and the yellow leaves of late autumn fall one by one. This land is pregnant with the miracle of life in the coming year.