ZICC: The Farm with Wings | The Manila Times

BEIJING, Jan. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In Ningbo, Zhejiang, David W. Ferguson, honorary chief English editor at Foreign Languages Press, met Jin Lishen, the local Fruit and Vegetable King, and included Jin's story in his new book China's Development in the New Era - the Zhejiang Experience.

In 1971, Jin was born in the small town of Andong, with a family whose local farming ancestry went back generations. After middle school, Jin first became a seafood fisherman, gathering cockles in Hangzhou Bay. At that time, he may not have imagined that he would become Fruit and Vegetable King of this place.

The villagers had grown cottons, soy beans, and peppers, but they still struggled to sell their produce. Jin wanted to go out and find opportunities. He used to travel extensively within Zhejiang to promote Andong's agricultural produce.

He steadily began to build a reputation as a middle man, but logistics were still problematic.

Critical to changing the situation was the opening of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge in 2008. The bridge reduced the farmers' travel time to Shanghai from 10 hours to two hours, and transformed their potential markets. Jin's farms, as the tiger with wings, now reach overseas markets in Japan, Germany, the United States, Australia and Canada.