Across China: Green shoots of prosperity on calabash trees

"Welcome to the livestreaming session of the King of Calabashes," said Ren, 43. "We know that in Chinese, calabash has a similar pronunciation to prosperity, so if you buy my calabashes, your life will likely be prosperous. I guarantee it."

Ren is a resident of Weiqing Village of Jize County, north China's Hebei Province. The county is famous for its chili industry, but for Ren, it is not the chili, but rather the "bottle gourds," that have spiced up his life.

Ren dries the calabashes he grows and paints all kinds of pictures on the gourds in his home studio.

"I create pictures that depict ancient Chinese idioms on the calabashes," he said.

"For example, this calabash is called 'The eagle thinks the sky is too low for it to fly, and the horse thinks the road is too short for it to run,'" he said with a big calabash in hand. "It took me a week to create the work."

Ren's calabash career took root eight years ago.

Before 2012, he had tried to start businesses on his own, but to no avail.

"I transported goods, opened a cotton-processing factory and even launched a factory processing crystal balls," he recalled. "I also tried a hotel."

In 2012, he heard on the internet about a calabash culture festival to be held in the city of Liaocheng, east China's Shandong Province.

"I had always been interested in calabashes, so I did not hesitate to visit the show," he said.

At the festival, Ren was amazed by the abundance of artistically crafted calabashes.

He decided to try and launch another business.

"Life is too short, and all I had ever known was going and going and going," he said. On his WeChat, he wrote a motto to encourage himself: "I would rather die gloriously than living a boring life."

He then started to learn about growing calabashes and how to make pyrography, the Chinese art of creating pictures with hot irons.

His passion initially met hesitation from his wife and parents.

"Why don't you just become a migrant worker and make some money," they said to him. "How could you possibly make money by growing calabashes here?"

Ren was resolved to realize his dream anyway.

But the project was not an easy one. It featured major setbacks.

The first time he grew the calabashes, the plants were damaged by hailstones. Then came a thunderstorm, which soaked all his calabash seedlings.

"I was devastated," he said. "I could not fall asleep at night."

It took hard work and time for his business venture to mature.

After trials and errors, Ren began to make progress, especially in pyrograph. Meanwhile, the calabash trees began to bear fruit.

In 2016, he reaped a good harvest. That same year, he established a company, which provides exquisitely crafted calabashes with pyrograph to customers.

"Looking back, it was not easy," he said. "But I made it."

These days, calabashes have become an inseparable part of Ren's life. His courtyard in the village is dotted by dried calabashes. His teacups, ornaments in the house and even his wife's earrings were made from the calabashes he grew. The business has been so successful that he earned the nickname "King of Calabashes."

"Calabashes' prices vary, with ordinary ones fetching less than 100 yuan (14 U.S. dollars) each and those with nice pyrograph selling for about 5,000 yuan each," he said.

The business also helped many local villagers rake in a good income by following his footsteps.

"In the past, there was no sales channel, and we did not dare to grow calabashes," said villager Wei Shengzhuo, who used to work at a construction site. This year, he grew about 500 calabash trees.

Even the county officials caught wind of Ren's success and purchased calabash seeds from him before distributing the seeds to local poor residents to grow.

On short video platforms Kuaishou and Douyin, Ren has launched his accounts, sharing more than 700 videos about calabashes.

"I want more people to get to know the traditional art of pyrography and the calabash culture," he said. "I hope that more young people will join me in passing down the art." Enditem