In 2020, Hunan has 28 products awarded Geographical Indication (GI), according to the Hunan Administration for Market Regulation. So far, Hunan has 266 GI products, which has given an impetus to its targeted poverty alleviation and high-quality regional development.

GI, an important element of intellectual properties, identifies a product’s origin. Sangzhi County has 79,000 mu (more than 5,269 ha.) of “Sangzhi White Tea” plantations which have provided 74,500 jobs for the locals, especially the poverty-stricken households. There are 88 cooperatives or family farmers engaging in “Sangzhi Honey”, and 104 bee keepers. A number of local specialties have been awarded with GI, including white tea, honey, konjak, and radish. These has made Sangzhi a good example of boosting targeted poverty alleviation through intellectual properties.

According to the related person in charge, in 2020, seven Hunan-based products were included in the first and second batches of Chinese GI products in the China-EU bilateral agreement on GI. They are Anhua dark tea, Liuyang fireworks, Liling porcelain, Jiugui liquor, Guzhang Maojian tea, Baojing Huangjin (golden) tea, and Yongfeng chili sauce. A total of 485 enterprises were labelled with GI marks, whose annual output value exceeded 50 billion CNY. Huaihua’s Xinhuang Dong Autonomous County is a national demonstration area of GI protection. Sangzhi honey and Zhangjiajie giant salamander are included in the GI application and promotion project of the National Intellectual Property Administration.

Statistics shows that, there are more than 1,200 GI product producers and over 5,000 related businesses around Hunan. During the 13th Five-year Plan period (2016-2020), these enterprises had created 220,000 jobs in poverty-stricken regions, and helped 1.39 million people out of poverty.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Pang Yuehui

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn