Qingdao ushers in blueberry season with annual festival

The 2024 Huangdao Blueberry Festival and the Baoshan Blueberry Picking Season are launched in Baoshan town, Qingdao WCNA on May 9. [Photo/Guanhai News]

The 2024 Huangdao Blueberry Festival and the Baoshan Blueberry Picking Season were launched in Baoshan town, Qingdao West Coast Area (Qingdao WCNA) in Qingdao on May 9, to further enhance the branding of Huangdao blueberries.

Baoshan town started planting and cultivating blueberries in 1999, and in 2018, its blueberries were selected as a national geographical indication product and a well-known regional public agricultural product brand of Shandong province. Four years later, they were included among the first "Shandong Good Products".

Having flourished for 25 years, Huangdao blueberries have become an important trademark of Qingdao WCNA. Blueberries have become a main driver for boosting the local economy and rural vitalization.

Huangdao blueberries are an important trademark of Qingdao WCNA. [Photo/Guanhai News]

Qingdao WCNA has become the largest blueberry production base in the country in terms of county-level area, with a blueberry planting area of 100,000 mu (6666.67 hectares) and an annual output value exceeding 4 billion yuan ($553.7 million), earning it a reputation as the "cradle of industrialized blueberry production in northern China".

As a standardized cultivation demonstration area for Chinese blueberries and the birthplace of industrialized blueberry planting, Baoshan town has focused on innovation and excellence in recent years, and expanded and strengthened the blueberry industry chain.