Harvesting the rewards of a plum job

Social media videos portray challenges and successes of new career growing apricots, report Cheng Yuezhu in Beijing and Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan.

For three years, Zhang Rui, 32, has been documenting his life as a farmer, taking care of the apricot trees at the family orchard in Xiaxian county, Yuncheng, North China's Shanxi province.

In his videos, viewers can enjoy the tranquil scenes of the orchard's seasonal changes－an apricot tree transforming from the barrenness of winter to budding and blossoming, and finally bearing bountiful fruit under layers of green leaves.

He is often seen walking around the orchard, pruning the trees, loosening the soil or irrigating the fields. But not all days are so peaceful and quiet. During the hectic harvest, he and his family members have to work in the darkness, sometimes even pulling all-night shifts.

These videos have been welcomed by users of social media platforms, such as Bilibili and Xiaohongshu, some of them receiving more than 200,000 views. They have also substantially helped Zhang's family and neighbors sell their fruit at a better price.

Before Zhang returned to his hometown, for nine years he had studied in Beijing and worked in the capital doing sales and marketing jobs.

"After working for years in this line of business, I decided that I'm not a people person. So, in the long term, I'd like a job where I can work autonomously," Zhang says.