China’s ‘first coffee village’ brewing up change amid digital transformation as jobseekers give it a shot, tourists take a sip
- Xinzhai village in the city of Baoshan, Yunnan province, promotes itself as ‘the first coffee village in China’ and is enjoying an upturn in fortunes
- It has embraced a digital transformation, including 5G infrastructure and live streaming, to sell its prized Arabica coffee beans
Wang Jiawei has long been proud that his small village in southwest China boasts some of the country’s best Arabica coffee beans. But for many years, that distinction was not enticing enough to prevent local adults from leaving.
The problem was that the coffee-bean output and price were too low to support the 2,200 people living in Xinzhai in the city of Baoshan, Yunnan province, which promotes itself as “the first coffee village in China”.
Like many Chinese people from relatively poor agrarian regions, farmers were generally more inclined to migrate to southern coastal factories to make a living.
In recent years, however, Wang said a change has been brewing in the mountainous region, and now, not only are adults beginning to return, outsiders have begun flowing in.
There are affluent job opportunities. Returning young people can easily find work.
“You can earn as much as what you make in [a top-tier city such as] Shenzhen,” Wang explained at a seminar on the local economy in Xinzhai in November.
“And there are affluent job opportunities. Returning young people can easily find work.”
Xinzhai has also become an example of what can happen when a region undergoes a digital transformation – including a buildout of 5G infrastructure and an embrace of live streaming – to modernise farming practices, promote rural entrepreneurship, enhance social services and lift people out of poverty.