With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, sales of Hechi zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings and a Dragon Boat Festival traditional snack, are booming. The popularity of Hechi zongzi has also driven the development of a complete zongzi industrial chain.

Hechi zongzi. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Hechi has a unique advantage in developing the zongzi industry. It is known as "the hometown of chestnuts," with an annual output of more than 6,000 metric tons. It is also famous for its sticky rice, among which Huanjiang sticky rice has a history of more than 400 years.

Guangxi Modern Vocational and Technical College and Hechi Vocational Education Center School have cooperated to establish the first zongzi industry college in the national vocational education system, aiming to cultivate high-quality, creative, and applied talents for the zongzi industry.

The production of a zongzi requires raw materials like reed leaves, sticky rice, black rice, mung beans, and pork, which can drive the development of related industries. It can also promote the development of a series of industries in Hechi, such as processing, packaging, as well as online and offline sales to form a complete industrial chain.

It is estimated that every additional 100 million yuan ($15 million) in sales of zongzi can drive the production of 7,500 live pigs, 2,000 tons of glutinous rice, and 500 tons of chestnuts, as well as provide employment to 1,800 workers and empower rural vitalization efforts.

Since the Dragon Boat Festival last year, the zongzi industry college has produced and sold more than 4.3 million zongzi and recruited more than 830 workers.