China News Service Hohhot, May 5th. Title: 400 years of tourism craze for "Red Apricot Village": "Apricot" Fumanyuan at the foot of Yinshan Mountain

China News Service reporter Zhang Wei

"10 years ago, when the apricots were ripe, we growers had to ride tricycles to set up stalls on the roadside to sell apricots. Now customers who come to pick at home have to make an appointment in advance, otherwise they will not be able to catch up with this year's big apricots." Standing under the old apricot tree full of apricot flowers, 60-year-old Zhang Guiniu happily introduced to the reporter.

Either wear Hanfu and check in and take photos under the apricot blossoms, or go into the apricot garden to claim a one of your own apricot trees... During this May Day holiday, the fire of the Apricot Blossom Valley of Usutu came out of the circle and welcomed nearly 100,000 tourists.

Wustu Xinghua Valley is located in Dongwusutu Village, Huimin District, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia. Dongwu Sutu Village was built during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 400 years. Because it is surrounded by Daqing Mountains in the north, it has been surrounded by mountains and waters since ancient times, and ancient trees are growing everywhere. Every year when apricot blossoms bloom, Dongwu Sutu Village is a "Xingwu Red" landscape, and is also one of the eight famous scenic spots in Guisui (now Hohhot) in the late Qing Dynasty. Therefore, it is also called the "Red Apricot Village".

Wang Zhifeng, a publicity committee member of the Party Committee of Dongwu Sutu Village, introduced that the village has 3,250 acres of apricot gardens, and 151,800 apricot trees of different varieties, including more than 20,000 apricot trees with a age of more than 70 years, more than 500 ancient trees in a century, and 62 ancient apricot trees with a age of 212 years.

"The villagers have lived by apricots for generations." Wang Zhifeng said that the apricots in Usutu are big and sweet, and are very famous. "This has a historical origin." Wang Zhifeng told the story. According to legend, in the 29th year of Daoguang, Cixi's father Hui Zheng was promoted to a Taoist resident of Guisui Road, Shanxi, and his family came to Guisui. Cixi loved Daxing in Wusutu, north of Guisui City. After entering the palace, Cixi was particularly concerned about the big apricots in Usutu, so she transplanted the apricot trees into the imperial garden and insisted on eating apricots after meals every day to satisfy her cravings and digest food. "Usutu apricots became the royal offering of that year."

"In July, the apricots ripened, and all the ancient apricot trees bloomed and bear fruit. Visitors can taste the taste 200 years ago." Wang Zhifeng said with a smile.

Delicious and beautiful scenery can always attract tourists' footsteps. Every April, the apricot forest in Dongwusutu is full of apricot flowers, and the jade-white or slightly red petals slowly fall with the breeze, as if entering a fairyland. As more and more tourists came, in 2014, the Huimin District Government relied on the apricot forest to build a tourist attraction and protected these ancient apricot trees.

In 2023, the local government invested a total of about 22 million yuan to state the surrounding land and houses, manage them in a unified manner, and carry out road reconstruction, water system repair, ecological protection of ancient trees, and commercial formats within the scenic area. Back then, the ancient apricot tree group in Dongwu Sutu Village was selected as one of the "100 Most Beautiful Ancient Tree Groups in the Country".

Now, the century-old apricot tree has become a local tree of prosperity. As the tourism industry becomes increasingly popular, farmhouses, picking gardens, barbecue camps, etc. have become one of the main sources of income for local villagers.

Zhai Caiyun, who is good at cooking, opened a farmhouse based on her own apricot garden. "I cleaned up my yard and designed it into several single rooms. Tourists can 'go home' to eat hot meals at any time whether they are visiting the scenic spot or picking it in the apricot garden."

Now, 55-year-old Zhai Caiyun's family has moved into a building, and the annual income of more than 100,000 yuan has made her life more and more prosperous.

Wang Ying, a post-95s generation, targeted the development of her hometown after graduating from university, and hit it off with her junior college and started a camping site.

"I have an ancient apricot tree in my house, and the youngest apricot tree is 20 years old." After some design and creation, Wang Ying set up a campground next to the apricot forest, with streams, wooden plank roads, and ancient woods complementing each other.

For local villagers, the big apricots in Usutu are treasures, and they can produce many products: apricot flowers can be used as medicine and made of apricot flower tea; apricot meat, apricot dried meat, and almonds can be sold; and even apricot kernels can be processed wood products.

At present, there are 4,300 registered villagers in Dongwu Sutu Village, almost every household has apricot garden, more than 60 farmhouses, and an annual per capita income of 20,000 yuan.

During the interview, the reporter found that the apricot tree pit was covered with apricot kernels. Li Yang, the head of the Apricot Flower Valley Scenic Area in Wusutu, introduced: "This is not only decoration, but also to protect ancient trees." "We cooperated with Inner Mongolia Agricultural University to jointly establish an agricultural doctoral workstation." Li Yang said that experts carry out pest control and nutritional supplements for ancient trees. According to technical guidance, the scenic area regularly prunes and leaves, sprays pesticides, controls pest controls, and sowing water and fertilizers to comprehensively improve the comprehensive protection capabilities of ancient trees.

In Li Yang's eyes, every ancient tree has a story, which is both a natural landscape and a memory coordinate of the countryside.