House of willow - the property you earned all by yourself

There are a wealth of people in Yutai County in China who weave a wide range of willow products using their industrious hands from their own house. Their own properties have been built since starting to open "willow house" - actually some family workshops in which willow resources affluent in their hometown, gradually recognized as favorable and superior natural conditions these years, have been developed. In early November, it's just time to cultivate willow cuttings.

Walking into the fields and lands, you can get an eyeful of such high and neat willows. Feel it by hand and they come to be very soft. "Willows(Salix integra) we planted are very flexible, and hard to be broken. After being heated and stripped, and then the willow strips will be used to weave into finished products." In a land of a villager where the reporter picked up a special pair of pliers, and cut on the ground. While making great strengths, I had few of them cut off. "It also requires skills." Soon, the villagers cut a large bundle of cuttings of willows.

These newly harvested willows need to be processed, and then willow weavers will make furnished crafts in accordance with drawings from customers. Zhang, an 64-year-old aunt who is weaving a willow door, she told reporters, "This order is placed by foreign clients. As I'm just new to weave with willows, so it needs some time of period. But now I can weave four to five pieces of willow crafts every day, I think, it will be 8 in few days. " The reporters calculated that a willow door is 20 yuan, she can earn a wage of 160 yuan a day if 8 pieces are done. That meas 4,800 yuan she can earn for a month - a big sum of money, even willow peoperty!

Village women like aunt Zhang have almost no idle time in rural areas. They'll do works during the winter season or slack farming season. Willow weaving is one of top choice works. For a winter, a few thousand can be earned easily.
 
Lee is now at his early forties, who has six-year experiences to be a willow craftsman, responsible for the development of new products, and doing designs of willow crafts according to drawings. "I worked as a teenager following the master to learn to be a good woodworker, later I went to willow factories working as a technician. Now I've made lot of money." In exhibition room of Lee's, the reporters saw piles of products placed over the ground, and picked up the funnel-shaped willow flowers pots, which is really addictive. Square, round, and full-shaped willow vases can be found there. " These products are from the most recent orders in Hungary, with an annual exports of tens of millions of willow baskets and crafts. And many patterns are developed by our own workers. Customers are very satisfied."

Reporters learned that the willow businesses in Yutai Couty has formed a certain production scale. The most striking evidence of this is most of village households have their own willow properties.

Zhao Yaoguo, general manager of a willow craft enterprise made an acount as follows: before the villagers grew rice, 750 kg a year of about an Mu of land as revenue, and the market price is 3 yuan per kg, making that a year income is 2,250 yuan. Fertilizer, watering, labor and other costs don't include. Since the villagers planted willows, harvesting 3,000 kg an Mu or so a year, and the purchase price at 3 yuan per kg, a year income of nearly ten-thousand yuan each Mu. Willow cultivation is very simple, plug willow cuttings into the land and then most of them can survive. After the harvest next year, they can continue to grow new shoots, without any artificial fertilization.

At present, all villagers have planted willows, with a planted area of over 6,000 Mu(400 hectares).▲