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Xiaohusai is an entirely student-run social enterprise. We source organic loose-leaf tea directly from Xiaohusai's farmers. We then design visually appealing packaging for the tea, and redistribute it in Shanghai. (We have also designed and sold merchandise as a side project!) All of our profits, which go into a scholarship fund for Xiaohusai's children, are thus cycled back to the village.
We sponsor the families that are in need of it most. To determine who these families are, we conduct extensive interviews during our annual visits to Xiaohusai. We identify low-income families within the village, as school tuition can comprise up to half of a family's annual income.
We sponsor the families that are in need of it most. To determine who these families are, we conduct extensive interviews during our annual visits to Xiaohusai. We identify low-income families within the village, as school tuition can comprise up to half of a family's annual income.
About Xiaohusai (the village)
There is a tea-farming village tucked away in the mountains of rural Yunnan. The dirt road leading to the village is steep and bumpy, melting to mud during the rainy summer months. Its houses are built by hand - held together with plain bricks and wood, and tin roofs that pitter-patter in the rain. Lush vegetation and tea plantations on steep slopes surround the village. When the mist dissipates each morning, the view of the landscape is breathtaking.
That village is Xiaohusai.
That village is Xiaohusai.
Statistics
Population: <700
Ethnicities: Han, Lahu Last official government census: 2006 Elementary school: <50 students Closest clinic: 19 km Closest middle school: 19 km Yearly income per person: 2,000-5,000 RMB (290-730 USD) |
Xiaohusai: Summer 2017
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A game of arm wrestling. (Summer 2018)
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In this village, everyone has known each other since they were children. Hospitality is the norm: show up unannounced at anyone's door, and they will enthusiastically invite you in and bring you tea and snacks. The food, although simple, is delicious and fresh. Drinking (which often begins at noon) and smoking cigarettes with friends is also the norm. It is a tradition to tattoo your own arm with values such as love, compassion, integrity.
For Xiaohusai's inhabitants, life is at once peacefully simple and painfully bleak. |
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In this village, children are forced to leave school and help their families with growing tea. Many members of the older generation have not received any education at all. Xiaohusai's elementary school only has one teacher; the available middle and high schools are a tiresome 1, or even 3, hours away. Most children drop out after middle school or high school, condemned to a life of working in the fields.
Tea is hard to make profitable: middlemen exploit Xiaohusai's farmers, often taking up to 70% of their profits, or even not paying them at all. Selling tea is also difficult: each year, many farmers end up with piles of unsold tea, sometimes more than what they have sold. |
Preparing Pu'er tea. (Summer 2017)
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Poverty In Xiaohusai (and Other Developing Areas)
Like millions of people in China and other regions, the residents of Xiaohusai find themselves stuck in a systematic, generational poverty cycle. There are many opportunities in today's rapidly developing world, but the wealth gap is increasing more than ever, and families who have historically been low-income find that it is almost impossible to reach these new opportunities.
The quality of life in Xiaohusai has dramatically increased over the past several years. In 2015, water pipes were built in Xiaohusai, providing a steady source of running water throughout the village. (Students from our school helped build some of the pipes, which is how we found out about the village.) Soon after, cell service and smartphones reached Xiaohusai, and with that came the Internet, social media, and less isolation for Xiaohusai's locals. In fact, Xiaohusai has developed its own wealth gap of sorts—the wealthiest families in the village have an annual income of around 60,000 RMB, tea plantations that are large and close to the village, and newly renovated houses. Meanwhile, the poorest families earn little more than 10,000 RMB, own only small plantations that are a long hike from the village, and live in small, decades-old shacks.
After each visit to Xiaohusai, we were always left wondering why some families in Xiaohusai were better off, while others were not. After all, not so long ago in communist China, wealth was distributed, so most rural families were similarly poor. The wealth gap as it is today was not as pronounced back then. The answer is complicated: as China finds itself in a period of skyrocketing development, there are some who have found wealth, and some who have been left behind. Yet people like the locals of Xiaohusai have been slowly experiencing greater prosperity in recent years.
The quality of life in Xiaohusai has dramatically increased over the past several years. In 2015, water pipes were built in Xiaohusai, providing a steady source of running water throughout the village. (Students from our school helped build some of the pipes, which is how we found out about the village.) Soon after, cell service and smartphones reached Xiaohusai, and with that came the Internet, social media, and less isolation for Xiaohusai's locals. In fact, Xiaohusai has developed its own wealth gap of sorts—the wealthiest families in the village have an annual income of around 60,000 RMB, tea plantations that are large and close to the village, and newly renovated houses. Meanwhile, the poorest families earn little more than 10,000 RMB, own only small plantations that are a long hike from the village, and live in small, decades-old shacks.
After each visit to Xiaohusai, we were always left wondering why some families in Xiaohusai were better off, while others were not. After all, not so long ago in communist China, wealth was distributed, so most rural families were similarly poor. The wealth gap as it is today was not as pronounced back then. The answer is complicated: as China finds itself in a period of skyrocketing development, there are some who have found wealth, and some who have been left behind. Yet people like the locals of Xiaohusai have been slowly experiencing greater prosperity in recent years.
...So What Are We Doing?
It is impossible to fix poverty completely: some people will always be better off than others. This is a reality, but we must work to make conditions better for those who are struggling with poverty and have been left behind from the world’s rapid development in recent decades. Likewise, one person may not be able to solve poverty entirely. But rather, an individual can take small steps, and those small steps can influence others and unite us in devising a solution to make life better for the impoverished. With Xiaohusai, we hope to take that first step and improve conditions for one village—small change is significant change nevertheless.
It will take years of development, as well as an extraordinary education and opportunity, to pull China's poor out of the poverty cycle. After all, there are millions of families like those we're sponsoring—the Zhang R.s, and Zhang X.s, and the Bais—all over China. But we truly believe that education is a long-term investment that can show massive returns if people choose to take advantage of it and value it.
It will take years of development, as well as an extraordinary education and opportunity, to pull China's poor out of the poverty cycle. After all, there are millions of families like those we're sponsoring—the Zhang R.s, and Zhang X.s, and the Bais—all over China. But we truly believe that education is a long-term investment that can show massive returns if people choose to take advantage of it and value it.