China Net July 29 News: Rapeseed is an ancient crop, belonging to the Brassicaceae family, genus Brassica, with three types: mustard, cabbage, and swede. It is named rapeseed because its seeds can be pressed for oil. Rapeseed is one of the oldest cultivated crops by humans, planted worldwide due to its significant economic value and wide adaptability, ranking alongside soybeans, sunflowers, and peanuts as one of the world's four major oil crops.
China is the world's largest rapeseed producer, with planting area and output accounting for about one-third of the world's total. Luoping County in Yunnan Province is affected by the Yunnan-Guizhou stationary front in winter, resulting in continuous rain, which is suitable for the growth of winter rapeseed. The rapeseed planting area has grown from 10,300 mu in 1949 to the current 1 million mu, making Luoping unique in China and even the world, and the Luoping rapeseed plantation has become the world's largest natural garden.
With the development of rapeseed production and the renewal of varieties, scientific and technological measures for planting management have also penetrated into farmers' households like spring rain moistening things. From broadcasting to cattle-plowed dibbling to furrow-bed sowing, from simply applying farmyard manure to using scientific formula fertilization, strengthening mid-cultivation management, quality and yield have improved. The main cultivation focuses on planting high-quality "double-low" (low erucic acid, low glucosinolate) cabbage-type rapeseed varieties, reasonable dense planting, timely thinning, rational fertilization, pest and disease control, and attention to the application of trace elements such as boron and zinc; the cultivation method is mainly dibbling, supplemented by seedling transplanting, and the level of fertilization management has improved year by year, with unit yield increasing accordingly.
For a long time, rapeseed was uniformly purchased and collected by grain and oil companies, and farmers could not sell their rapeseed at good prices; in 1994, the government liberalized prices and canceled the unified purchase and marketing of rapeseed, allowing grain and oil departments, other departments, collectives, individuals, local merchants, and outside merchants to purchase it. After rapeseed entered the market, farmers could sell their rapeseed at good prices. Each kilogram of rapeseed can be sold for about 5 yuan, and each mu of rapeseed yields about 180 kilograms, allowing farmers to earn about 1,000 yuan per mu from planting rapeseed. The continuous expansion of planting scale, the continuous improvement of yield, the promotion of scientific and technological measures such as industrial structure adjustment and soil testing and formula fertilization, and the implementation of tourism-driven strategies have fully mobilized the enthusiasm of farmers to plant rapeseed.
Every spring, the 1 million mu of rapeseed flowers in Luoping bloom in full splendor, with golden waves rolling, patches and blocks, undulating terrain, butterflies dancing and bees flying, and a refreshing fragrance. There are winding paths and spiral descents, complementing distant mountains and nearby waters, villages and households. The golden rapeseed flowers spread over mountains and rivers, creating golden hills, golden gullies, golden riverbanks, golden plains, golden flower beds, and golden bonsai, turning Luoping into a golden world; the majestic Jiulong Waterfall, the deep and beautiful Lubuge Gorge, the beautiful and clear Duoyi River, together with the golden rapeseed flower sea, form a fairyland-like attractive scenery.
Smart Luoping people have grown rapeseed to create beautiful scenery, and relying on this scenery, they have developed tourism. With the efforts of the county party committee and county government, the natural wonder of the Luoping rapeseed flower sea has been recognized both at home and abroad. In 2002, Luoping County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, was approved by the Shanghai World Guinness Headquarters and set a Guinness World Record: the Luoping rapeseed plantation became the world's largest natural garden.
Luoping County, based on the goal of building eco-tourism and sightseeing agriculture, has made the traditional rapeseed industry a truly enriching industry for the people while also adding new connotations to the development of Luoping's tourism. The annual China Yunnan Luoping International Rapeseed Flower Culture and Tourism Festival has become a large-scale agricultural sightseeing tourism festival facing the whole country and going to the world, becoming a highlight of Yunnan tourism.
The Luoping County Party Committee and County Government have launched all-round construction of transportation, communication, electricity, urban supporting facilities, and tourist attractions closely related to tourism, building a large number of tourism infrastructure and service reception facilities such as scenic area management rooms, ecological parking lots, luxury cruise ships, and docks, as well as scenic spots such as Jiulong Strange Stone Museum, Duoyi River World Natural Waterwheel Expo Park, the main venue of the Rapeseed Flower Festival, Jinji Peak Cluster Viewing Point, Lubuge Small Three Gorges, Nase Peak Sea, and Luosi Field Viewing Point, allowing tourists to experience "Natural Luoping, with infinite scenery; Resourceful Luoping, with infinite business opportunities; Golden Luoping, with infinite charm; Harmonious Luoping, with infinite development."
The rapeseed industry in Luoping drives tourism, catering, and shopping, directly promoting the economic development of Luoping. By adopting the form of joint efforts by the state, collectives, and individuals, funds have been raised from multiple sources to build new hotels and restaurants. The county's total reception beds exceed 16,000, and there are more than 800 restaurants registered with the industrial and commercial authorities, ensuring that tourists can stay comfortably, eat safely, and travel pleasantly.
Luoping wants both gold and silver mountains and clear waters and green mountains. A good ecological environment is precisely the foundation and prerequisite for Luoping's economic and social development. The development of tourism has driven industrial development. Green, ecological, Luoping Jinfeng Company is a holding subsidiary of Yunnan Jinfenghui Oil Co., Ltd., adopting an industrial development model of company + scientific research + base + cooperative + internet. In 2018, it invested 60 million yuan to build standardized workshops with an annual rapeseed processing capacity of 60,000 tons, using domestic first-class green and environmentally friendly aroma-enhancing physical pressing and physical refining oil production lines, with an investment of over 100 million yuan.
The Luoping Jinfeng production line adopts modern advanced electromagnetic and microwave seed-roasting technology, automatic feeding and discharging devices, automatic adjustment of moisture before pressing, automatic moisture removal and dust removal, and new environmentally friendly and energy-saving oil extraction technology, physical refining, and natural aroma retention technology. It is currently the most advanced physical rapeseed oil processing technology in China.
Luoping Jinfeng adheres to "survive by quality, develop by integrity," taking "making the best rapeseed oil in China" as the company's mission, providing consumers with natural, healthy, and safe rapeseed oil. Luo Lijiang, the representative inheritor of the ancient method of pressing rapeseed oil, a Yunnan provincial intangible cultural heritage, chairman of Luoping County Xiangyi Oil Planting Professional Cooperative, and chairman of Yunnan Luoping Jinfenghui Oil Co., Ltd., adheres to and inherits the essence of the ancient wooden press rapeseed oil technique, following the ancient oil pressing process of "cleaning, drying, roasting seeds, grinding, steaming powder, wrapping cakes, pressing, settling, and water flower," all completed by hand. First, the rapeseed is cleaned and dried, then roasted in a wok to remove the skin, revealing the yellow seeds, then ground into powder, steamed on a steamer with cloth, and pressed into round cakes when taken out, before being placed in the press ring and finally pressed with a wooden hammer to extract oil.
In 2012, Luo Lijiang established the Luoping County Xiangyi Oil Planting Professional Cooperative and registered the Yilu trademark to protect the ancient wooden press rapeseed oil; in October 2013, he was named "Representative Inheritor of the Ancient Rapeseed Oil Pressing Technique, a Qujing City Intangible Cultural Heritage"; in December 2013, the ancient pressing technique of Luoping Yilu rapeseed oil was listed by the Yunnan Provincial Government as "Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage"; in early 2018, he invested over 60 million yuan to build a new production line with an annual processing capacity of 60,000 tons of rapeseed, and in April, he established the Rapeseed Oil Museum in Luoping; in October 2018, Yilu wooden press rapeseed oil won the "Qujing City Top Ten Tourist Products (Cultural and Creative Category) Award"; in November 2019, Luoping Yilu rapeseed oil was certified as a Grade A green food product by the China Green Food Development Center.
Yilu rapeseed oil interprets the spirit of inheriting traditional Chinese food culture, continues the old Chinese flavor, and has blazed a path of intangible cultural heritage protection with Chinese characteristics, creating Chinese experience in intangible cultural heritage protection, setting off a consumption boom for authentic and genuine Yilu rapeseed oil. Yilu has become the first rapeseed oil brand in China's rapeseed industry to inherit intangible cultural heritage, establishing the first brand of Chinese intangible cultural heritage rapeseed oil.
The protection and inheritance of the Yilu rapeseed oil technique as intangible cultural heritage have been stable and far-reaching, protecting and inheriting practice, capacity, and environment, excavating and organizing the traditional cultural elements of the Yilu ancient wooden press technique, focusing on brand power, building a new ecology of intangible cultural heritage, telling the brand story of intangible cultural heritage, tapping the brand potential of intangible cultural heritage, enhancing the brand status of intangible cultural heritage, spreading the charm of intangible cultural heritage brands, and letting more people understand, recognize, and cherish intangible cultural heritage, using the beauty of intangible cultural heritage to brighten life.
Luo Lijiang uses "intangible cultural heritage" as an important tourism resource to carry out experiential tourism. The production process of Yilu rapeseed oil and the series of Yilu rapeseed oil products are displayed through the Luoping Rapeseed Oil Museum, allowing tourists from all over the country to understand and perceive intangible cultural heritage more intuitively. In watching, learning, participating, and interacting, they are both learners and inheritors, promoting the transformation of the economic value of "intangible cultural heritage" culture, and through tourism, driving the protection and inheritance of "intangible cultural heritage," relying on "intangible cultural heritage" cultural resources to develop tourism economy, promoting the inheritance of "intangible cultural heritage" culture and the upgrading of the industrial chain, attracting a large number of visitors to watch the ancient Yilu oil pressing technique, allowing more people to understand the rich cultural heritage of Luoping.
Yilu rapeseed oil is rich in nutritional components and also has good nutritional and health functions. Market demand drives Luoping Jinfeng Oil Co., Ltd. to produce it, promoting the quality improvement and development of Yilu rapeseed oil, so that more people can eat the most nutritious and healthy Yilu rapeseed oil. Yilu rapeseed oil has long been mainly sold in major supermarkets, shopping malls, and hotels in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing, Xiamen, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hunan, Beijing, etc. This year, Luoping Jinfeng Oil Co., Ltd. has done a lot of work in brand building and product quality improvement, vigorously attacking to expand key domestic markets, strengthening international market research, and making Yilu a leading brand in the edible oil category. It can be seen that Yilu rapeseed oil, as a high-quality edible oil that balances health and deliciousness, has a very promising future. (Luo Ying)
