The village of Cán Chư Sử, formerly part of Cán Cấu commune, has over 100 households, divided into three residential areas. Several dozen households are located further inside, about 3 km from Cán Cấu market. Upon arriving in Cán Chư Sử, I asked for directions to Mr. Giàng A Pùa's house. The villagers told me to follow the main village road; the largest and most beautiful peach orchard is where Mr. Pùa's house is located.
Indeed, finding Mr. Giàng A Pùa's house isn't difficult, but you rarely see him inside; he spends almost the entire day working in his peach orchard. Especially during the end of the year, Mr. Pùa's work becomes even busier as he has to carefully tend to each peach tree to ensure it buds and blooms in time for the Lunar New Year.
Taking us on a tour of his family's peach orchard, Mr. Giàng A Pùa explained that this year's leap year (with two extra months) means the peach blossoms are more beautiful than usual, and many trees will bloom right in time for the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse. However, he added that cultivating such beautiful peach trees requires a long process of care and doesn't entirely depend on timing or weather.
According to Mr. Pua's experience, to have a beautiful peach tree, one must first plant or find and buy ancient peach trees, bring them home, and care for them to grow. Then, prune the branches, shape them into different forms, and care for them to produce many buds and flowers for Tet (Lunar New Year). The climate in the Si Ma Cai area is cool year-round, which is very favorable for peach trees to grow, but one must know how to prune and shape the branches so that the peach tree can fully display its beauty. In addition, for ancient peach trees, moss should be added so that layers of moss cling to them, giving them a natural, antique look.
Listening to Mr. Pua talk about growing peach trees, I was surprised to learn that he started this business about 10 years ago. Even back then, in the Si Ma Cai region, most people only planted a few peach trees around their houses for decoration; few considered growing many for sale. Furthermore, shaping and pruning peach trees is difficult work, usually only done by Kinh people in famous peach-growing villages in the lowlands. It's hard to believe that someone from the highlands could do it.
Standing beside an ancient bonsai peach tree, Mr. Pua smiled and said, "The Hmong people don't have the custom of placing peach branches inside their houses. They only plant peach trees around their houses for decoration, and near Tet (Lunar New Year), they cut the branches and take them to the market to sell to Kinh people to buy for Tet." After a few years of selling peaches at the Tet market, seeing that the business was profitable, Mr. Pua started buying peaches from villagers every year and reselling them to traders. After each trip transporting peaches to the lowlands, he became acquainted with the owners of large peach orchards and learned the techniques of planting and pruning peach trees to make them beautiful. From then on, after the Lunar New Year, he would travel throughout the villages to buy back peach trees that people had cut off, replant them, and shape them into ancient bonsai peach trees. Some of the most beautiful peach trees he sells fetched 3 million dong.
Taking advantage of his family's large plot of land and the surrounding hills, Mr. Giàng A Pùa has expanded his peach tree cultivation in recent years. Thanks to his mastery of peach tree planting and care techniques, along with his diligence and hard work, Mr. Pùa sells hundreds of peach trees of various types to the market each year. In 2024, his family earned 200 million VND from selling peach trees. This year, he has about 300 peach trees of various types, including about 30 ancient bonsai peach trees, 50 dwarf peach trees, and the rest are carefully pruned and shaped peach trees. Although it's not yet the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026, traders have already come to Mr. Pùa's garden to inspect the trees, mark each one, and place orders for 150 trees to transport to the city. He estimates that if he sells all the peach trees in his garden, his family will earn approximately 250 million VND.
As their lives gradually improved thanks to the ornamental peach tree cultivation model, Mr. Giàng A Pùa guided his children to develop peach orchards to increase their income. Currently, the families of Mr. Pùa's children, Giàng Quốc Tuấn and Giàng Sơn Tinh, also own peach orchards with hundreds of trees. In addition, from 2019 to the present, recognizing that during Tet (Lunar New Year), especially the Gầu Tào Festival, many tourists want to take photos, Mr. Pùa and his children have planted ornamental flower gardens for tourists to visit and take souvenir photos. Although each tourist only has to pay an entrance fee of 20,000 VND, during the Gầu Tào Festival season, the gardens are packed with visitors, and Mr. Pùa's family earns hundreds of millions of VND.
As we parted ways, Mr. Giàng A Pùa shared: "Thanks to peach and flower cultivation, my family has a decent income and a more comfortable life. However, it's also a very difficult and arduous job; if you're not diligent, hardworking, and willing to endure the sun and rain, you can't do it. One year, near Tet, there was a lot of rain and cold weather, causing the peach blossoms to not bloom in time, and all the flowers were ruined. My family lost nearly 100 million dong. Even so, I didn't give up, because with perseverance and effort, success will come."
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/trieu-phu-hoa-dao-o-can-chu-su-post891180.html
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