Spring tea leaves are sprouting, their fragrance filling the hillsides. At the Siming Chunlu Tea Base in Yanhu Village, Lizhou Street, Yuyao City, villagers, with tea baskets slung over their waists, move swiftly among the tea bushes, picking spring tea leaves. Their fingers fly, gathering baskets full of fresh green shoots, and with them, the hope for increased income right at their doorsteps. This vibrant tea garden is a vivid microcosm of the "company + base + farmer" model of Ningbo Siming Chunlu Tea Industry Development Co., Ltd., a targeted recruitment-based shared prosperity workshop.

As a comprehensive enterprise deeply rooted in the tea industry for over 20 years, integrating planting, processing, sales, and research and development, Ningbo Siming Chunlu Tea Industry Development Co., Ltd. currently owns over 1,000 mu of pollution-free fresh leaf bases, two tea factories, and four offline directly-operated stores, with products selling well both domestically and internationally. While deeply cultivating the industry, the company never forgets to give back to its community. Jiang Liping, founder and head of the "Siming Chunlu" brand, explained the profound meaning of the character "露" (lu, meaning dew or nectar) in the brand name—"It carries the connotation of the blessings of rain and dew, aiming to give back to farmers and lead them to prosperity."

In 2023, the Siming Chunlu Co-prosperity Workshop was officially established in Yanhu Village. Leveraging the market advantages of the "Waterfall Fairy Tea" regional public brand, the workshop promotes large-scale planting, standardized production, and branded operation. It provides unified technical guidance, unified picking standards, unified processing, and unified market sales to surrounding tea farmers, uniting small farmers into a cohesive force for development. In terms of employment, the workshop prioritizes employing low-income farmers and surplus labor from the village and surrounding areas, allowing them stable employment near their homes.

Li Meiyi, a villager from Yanhu Village, is one of the beneficiaries. She leased one mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of land to the workshop, participating in tea garden management on weekdays and working nearby during the tea-picking season. “Before, the land was idle and there was no income. Now, by picking tea and working in the tea garden, I can earn more than 20,000 yuan a year. This kind of life is pretty good,” said Li Meiyi, her simple words echoing the sentiments of many farmers.

According to the company, it has leased village collective tea gardens and villagers' land, planting tea seedlings to create a tea base. Villagers not only receive land lease rent but also find employment near their homes, enjoying employment across the entire tea-picking, management, processing, and packaging chain, achieving “multiple incomes from one piece of land.” Currently, the “Colorful Tea Garden” employs more than 50 people on a long-term basis, and the company has also created jobs for more than 500 households in the surrounding area, providing numerous positions in tea picking and processing each year. To date, Yuyao City has established and operates 67 various types of shared-income workshops, enabling more than 3,600 idle laborers to increase their income near their homes. This has cumulatively benefited more than 1,100 rural laborers and more than 2,500 low-income farmers, with an average monthly income increase of 3,600 yuan per person.

To further expand its industrial reach, Siming Chunlu Gongfu Workshop keeps pace with market trends, developing diversified products such as portable tea bags and instant solid tea to tap into the young consumer market and continuously extend the tea industry chain. While helping villagers increase their income, the company also regularly organizes technical training in tea planting, harvesting, and processing to help villagers improve their professional skills, achieving an upgrade from simply providing jobs to empowering them.

From a green leaf to a "golden leaf" for prosperity, Siming Chunlu Gongfu Workshop has demonstrated through practice the development concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." Amidst the fragrant aroma of tea, a beautiful picture of thriving industry, beautiful countryside, and prosperous people is slowly unfolding at the foot of Siming Mountain.