The first Cherry Picking Festival was held in North Liangjiazhuang village in Zhuhai Community, Qingdao West Coast New Area (Qingdao WCNA), East China's Shandong province, on May 21, which helped boost rural tourism and increase the popularity of local cherries.

Located in the western region of Zhuhai Community, North Liangjiazhuang is an agricultural village. Most of the village's land is comprised of hilly areas, which are not suitable for planting wheat, peanuts or corn. Farmers chose to plant cherries in the hilly areas, which proved to be successful, and helped increase local farmers' incomes.

The village has planted cherries for 25 years, and in recent years, the planting area of cherries has expanded greatly, but cherries here were mostly unknown to the public, according to Zhang Wei, Party chief of the village.

Since this year, the village launched a project to promote the large-scale planting of cherries, and build a brand reputation, aiming to develop rural tourism and support rural vitalization.

Zhang said that the village not only has tasty cherries, but boasts many historical sites, offering different forms of leisure and entertainment experiences.

Currently, the village has a flourishing cherry industry, beautiful landscapes, and is developing a distinctive rural tourism industrial chain that includes rural sightseeing, recreation, catering and accommodations, aiming to develop into a new socialist countryside that is beautiful, prosperous and harmonious.

The first Cherry Picking Festival is held in North Liangjiazhuang village in Zhuhai Community, Qingdao WCNA, East China's Shandong province, on May 21. [Photo/Xihaian News]

Cherry planting helps local villagers in North Liangjiazhuang village increase their incomes and find a way to advance rural vitalization. [Photo/Xihaian News]