A silky smooth move

Out of its cocoon

Silkworm production has helped local people cast off poverty in recent years.

Each hectare of mulberry trees has a production value of about 75,000 yuan, much higher than traditional crops such as corn and potatoes.

Wu Peiguang, 56, used to be mired in poverty. He has three children in school counting on him and can rake in more than 3,000 yuan a month thanks to silk production.

"I have begun to grow mulberry trees on my farm and I also make some money by taking care of silkworms in the village," Wu said.

The village has a rural cooperative to raise the silkworms, with experts invited to impart their skills.

The cocoons are taken to the factories in the township to be broken down and processed into silk. Hengsheng Silk has 10 production lines to break the cocoons into silk lines. They can process more than 2,000 metric tons of cocoons each year, and the silk they produce is popular in Europe and South Asia.

"Our company offers more than 500 jobs for local people," Wang Yanghai said. "We have lifted 3,000 families out of poverty by engaging them in sericulture."

Villager Xi Zhengyang is one of them. "I used to work in an electronics factory in the eastern part of China but my health deteriorated and I had to stay at home," Xi said. "After joining the company I started breaking down the cocoons and I can make more than 4,000 yuan a month."

Wang Yanghai said the coronavirus epidemic disrupted the company's business, both at home and abroad. "Silk has always been an important part of international trade. I hope that the world gets better soon and that business will return to normal," he added.

Xinhua