Month-long Yangbi walnut festival kicks off

The 2018 Yangbi Walnut Festival opened in, Yangbi County, west Yunnan’s Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture on September 1. The month-long festival aims to increase the popularity of local walnut industry and tourism.

During the festival, a variety of activities, including food tasting and specialties exhibitions will be held. Among them, the grandest one is the ritual worshipping walnut, during which people pray to the God of Walnut for a good harvest and a better life.

Located in the central part of Dali Prefecture, Yangbi County is dubbed the “hometown of walnuts in China”. It has a long history of walnut planting and is the country’s biggest walnut trading hub. At present, about 71,333 hectares of walnut trees are planted in the county, with an annual output of about 50,000 tons of walnuts and the comprehensive output value of 1 billion yuan. Over 70% of local people have successfully been lifted out of poverty through the walnut industry. (Liu Rong, Chen Fei) 

Editor: John Li