"The enterprise provides local villagers with an annual payroll exceeding one million yuan," said Mou Tianbin, Secretary of the CPC Baiya Town Committee, Langzhong City, Nanchong. He was referring to a private enterprise with origins in Zhejiang—Sichuan Zhongyi Olive Oil Development Co., Ltd. Through an operational model integrating "Company + Cooperative + Base", villagers not only earn land lease fees but also secure local employment. "Many villagers have now chosen to pursue livelihoods in their hometowns."

Meanwhile, the company is also benefiting from this win-win dynamic. It has established an olive cultivation base spanning over 5,000 mu (approximately 333 hectares) in Baiya Town, with an annual output value projected to surpass 40 million yuan.

Thanks to the deepened collaboration between Zhejiang and Sichuan in eastern and western regions projects, such instances of "mutual commitment and shared progress" are by no means isolated cases. This year marks the conclusion of the five-year transition period for consolidating and expanding achievements made in poverty alleviation in coordination with the extensive drive for rural revitalization. Over the past five years, through initiatives such as building agricultural product brands, developing agricultural parks, and tapping into rural resources, Zhejiang and Sichuan have jointly advanced agricultural modernization and industrial chain extension in Sichuan, effectively driving regional development and increasing farmers' incomes.

Employment Closer to Home

Revitalization Workshops Enabling Nearly 20,000 Villagers to Secure Employment Within Their Hometowns

"Thanks to the Revitalization Workshop, I now have a stable and decent income. I also regularly participate in skills training to further refine my Qiang embroidery techniques," said Liu Qi, a young woman from Beichuan. In April this year, the first Revitalization Workshop in Sichuan was inaugurated in Beichuan, Mianyang, enabling Liu to embark on a career as a professional embroiderer. Within just six months, this workshop has trained over 1,200 professional embroiderers.

The Revitalization Workshop is an integrated industrial-employment assistance program developed by Sichuan. Building upon existing employment assistance workshops, it incorporates lessons learned from Zhejiang's model of "Targeted Employment Common Prosperity Workshops". Through a village (cooperative)-enterprise partnership initiative, suitable production and processing operations are being extended into rural areas, enabling villagers to secure employment close to their homes. Since the beginning of this year, the province has invested a total of 460 million yuan, leading to the establishment of 173 Revitalization Workshop projects. These projects are projected to generate an annual output value of approximately 1.28 billion yuan, create nearly 20,000 jobs, and boost per capita monthly income by over 2,000 yuan.

The "Blue Eagle Project" and provincial/municipal-level labor service brands have also become pivotal drivers in addressing employment challenges through the Zhejiang-Sichuan collaboration framework.

"Recently, many students have been calling me with the good news that their internships are going smoothly and they are about to be offered full-time positions," said Zhang Pan, Principal of Muchuan County Secondary Vocational School in Leshan City. He explained that four years ago, Zhuji City in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, launched paired assistance cooperation with Muchuan County, introducing the "Blue Eagle Project" with its first pilot initiative implemented at his school. "At present, the school has established 24 classes named after 'Blue Eagle Star'. A total of 1,999 students have been trained. Among them, students from poverty-alleviated households account for 33 percent, and students from rural families account for 93 percent. The starting salary of graduates is over 6,000 yuan per month."

The "Blue Eagle Project" has been comprehensively promoted and implemented in 68 counties (districts and county-level cities) across Sichuan Province. This year, Zhejiang and Sichuan have established 67 new school-to-school pairs and 88 school-enterprise pairs, cultivating 2,641 skilled students.

In enhancing the cultivation of professional talent, Zhejiang and Sichuan have continued to refine 23 municipal-level labor service brands. By leveraging two provincial-level brands—"Tianfu Construction Workers" and "Sichuan Culinary Masters"—Zhejiang and Sichuan have trained over 10,000 construction artisans, generated employment for nearly one million people, and created labor income exceeding 100 billion yuan.

Additionally, in the first seven months of the year, Zhejiang's support has resulted in 51,800 employment transfers for Sichuan and created 9,000 local job opportunities within the province.

More Resilient Rural Industries

Promoting Integration of "Sichuan Brand" Agricultural Products with Zhejiang Markets

"My family grows over 30 mu (approximately 2 hectares) of Gala apples, with this year's yield exceeding 6,000 jin (3,000 kilograms) per mu," said Tang Yufeng, an apple grower from Yanyuan County, Liangshan Prefecture. As the harvest season reaches its peak, his orchard is set for a bumper harvest, projecting an income of 330,000 yuan.

Yet, these premium agricultural products—noted for their size, sweetness, and vibrant color—once remained largely unknown to the wider world, due to poor transportation and underdeveloped branding.

To address this challenge, building upon continuously improving local infrastructure, the Ningbo City assistance team stationed in Liangshan Prefecture and its county-level subunits devised a multi-pronged strategy: implementing branding and market-oriented management for premium agricultural products; extending industrial chains through jointly built industrial parks; and expanding both online and offline channels to boost sales. At present, a range of distinctive agricultural brands from Liangshan, such as Jinyang Green Peppercorn and Yanyuan Apple, have made their way from the remote mountains to markets all over the country.

Across Sichuan, a constellation of distinctive regional brands has gained prominence: the "Alpine Vegetables" of Western Sichuan, the "Premium Fruits" of Southern Sichuan, the "Late-Maturing Citrus" of Central Sichuan, the "Highland Yak and Sheep" of Northern Sichuan, and the "Shu Brocade and Embroidery" of Eastern Sichuan.

Enhancing resilience and scaling up operations are equally vital for industrial revitalization. In recent years, a growing number of Zhejiang enterprises have participated in building production and processing bases for Sichuan's distinctive agricultural products. Through jointly developing modern agricultural industrial parks, they are driving formerly impoverished areas to transition from single-industry models to diversified structures, and from pure production to full-chain development.

The Tongxiang-Songpan Joint E-commerce Industrial Park in Qingyun Town, Songpan County, Aba Prefecture, stands as one of these landmark achievements. "In the past, growing conventional fruits and vegetables generated less than 10,000 yuan per mu in output value. Now, the premium tomatoes cultivated in this park yield over 200,000 yuan in output value," said a person in charge of technical operations at the park.

Quality products, however, must be matched by robust market access. Leveraging the eastern-western regional collaboration framework, Sichuan has continuously deepened the integration of its "Sichuan Brand" agricultural products into markets in Zhejiang and across the nation. For instance, in the tea sector alone, Sichuan has organized a series of tea-tourism events, including the "Guangyuan Fine Tea" selection campaign, the Guangyuan Yellow Tea Competition, and a tea garden photography contest, all of which have yielded positive results.

Rural Tourism Gains Momentum

Sichuan Matures More Cultural-Tourism Brands by Leveraging Zhejiang's Experience

"Collaboration between the eastern and western regions has brought not only capital and projects but, more importantly, new perspectives for Sichuan to develop its rural resources, which has driven constant industrial innovation," said an official from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The official noted that Deqing, Kaihua, and Jinyun in Zhejiang are "pioneers" in leisure agriculture, providing a valuable reference for Sichuan's own integration of agriculture, culture, and tourism.

In a strategic move to "connect the dots", Sichuan recently launched a collection of ten curated tourist routes, each brimming with distinctive local character and rich cultural resources, in a dedicated effort to attract more out-of-province visitors.

Building on this integrated approach, Sichuan has designated key cultural-tourism IPs, such as the Jianmen Pass, Qiang and Tibetan villages, and pristine grasslands with snow-capped mountains, as anchor points. The province has curated 41 premium rural itineraries to catalyze the convergence of agricultural, cultural, and tourism resources across 18 key counties targeted for rural revitalization and old revolutionary base areas along the routes.

However, to stand out in an increasingly competitive cultural tourism market, it is imperative to create more unique scenarios and business formats.

"I never pictured myself dancing to DJs on an open grassland," said Liu Yu, a tourist from Guangdong, after attending the 2025 Hongyuan Yak Music Season in Hongyuan County, Aba Prefecture. The tourist later shared a series of photos from the event on social media. The event represents one of the dual-brand initiatives jointly pioneered by Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, and Hongyuan County, Sichuan Province, featuring the "Hongyuan Grassland Yak Music Season" in Sichuan and the "Yongjia Nanxi River Yak Music Season" in Zhejiang. The two regions have established an annual special fund of no less than two million yuan dedicated to cultural exchanges. Over the past five years, they have cumulatively organized more than 30 related events.

Initiatives like "10,000-Tourist Visits to Liangshan", the Mabian Torch Festival, and the Yilong Beer &Music Festival exemplify Sichuan's ongoing efforts to package and promote 25 distinctive villages and 65 unique cultural sites. Building on Zhejiang's experience, the province is crafting distinctive and immersive tourism formats centered around cultural landscapes, Sichuan cuisine, and intangible cultural heritage folk custom activities. Today, a growing number of distinctive cultural tourism brands are reaching maturity across the region.

"Moving forward, we hope to attract more professionals to this field, fostering a deeper integration of youth-led creative industries with the unique contexts of rural communities, thereby injecting greater vitality into the convergence of agriculture, culture, and tourism," stated the aforementioned official from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.