Where to stock up for the approaching Chinese New Year? The answer is Shangougou Village in Luniao. The 18th Luniao New Year Shopping Festival officially kicked off on January 25.

A "New Year Gift Pack", including rice cakes, a pickled chicken, a soy-sauced duck, bamboo shoots, pears and black fungus, was debuted at the opening. "They all come from here, like the short-grain rice and glutinous rice, the free-range chickens, the bamboo shoots and the spring water," said the head of Luniao's local authority. The upcoming Chinese New Year is a spur of growing sales in green, healthy and pristine food.

The government works hard on local specialties. Leveraging its rustic charms, Luniao spares no effort to champion agri-food. Selling honey pears aside, for example, Luniao has created pear-related mascots for its sightseeing business, like "Li Xiao Liu", "Xiao Li Jun" and "Ao Li Gei", with a range of derivative gifts for visitors. To multiply the pear’s reputation, it also works with Xiao Re Hun (a heritage folk show) for the co-branded pear-syrup.

Hangzhou Luniao Food Production, Study and Research Center, inaugurated at the end of 2023, is a facility comprising production and processing lines, labs, study fields, offices and stock houses. It can help hone the value chain of the local agri-food and drive them to gain ground and popularity in the market. 

Sales also play vital in Luniao. On one hand, Flowers Festival, Honey Pear Festival, Chinese New Year Shopping Festival and other show events can help popularize its name; on the other hand, we-media like TikTok are used to reach a wider population through the programs of web influencers and self-owned live streamers.

During the 2024 Shopping Festival, Hangzhou Luniao Rural Industry Operations Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with four retail e-platforms, including Alibaba D-Country and "Zhejiang Online Shopping" (affiliated to Zhejiang Media Group), allowing local products available to more people.

It's worth noting that January 25 was both for the opening of the Shopping Festival and the inauguration of "A Lingering Luniao Taste", a model workshop for common prosperity. "It will be an experimental facility for creating new business models, building a 'Luniao Model', and blazing a trail of common prosperity and sustainable development from the perspectives of production, retail, exhibition, and study," said the local authority.