"To get rich, first build the road." This well-known saying highlights the significant role of transportation in the economic and social development.

Transportation is known as the "vanguard" of economic development. In a sense, it is the connection of these transportation "arteries" and "capillaries" that has promoted the high-quality development of China's logistics market and stimulated the vitality of the social economy.

In recent years, with the opening up of the "last mile" of rural logistics transportation, the export of agricultural products has accelerated, and new business formats have been introduced. This "in and out" has sped up the process of transforming resource advantages into economic advantages in rural areas, revitalizing the rural market and significantly enhancing the sense of gain and happiness among the people.

Smooth transportation helps agricultural products "go out".

Shouguang, known as the "hometown of Chinese vegetables," is an important vegetable production and supply base in China, playing a crucial role in ensuring vegetable supply for surrounding areas and the entire country.

In Shouguang, not only are vegetable wholesalers from all over the country gathered, but a large logistics market cluster has also emerged. Tons of fresh fruits and vegetables set off from here, being transported to supermarkets and farmers' markets across the country, appearing on the tables of thousands of households. It can be said that those engaged in fruit and vegetable transportation are an important bridge for Shouguang's vegetables to "go out," and local resident Hong Dajun is one of them.

"Shouguang is a nationally known 'vegetable basket,' and the demand for transporting various vegetables is very high. I started working in fruit and vegetable transportation after retiring from the army, bringing the vegetables from my hometown to all over the country so that people can eat safe vegetables," said Hong Dajun, a resident of Shouguang, proudly to reporters. His words reveal a deep sense of pride in his profession and hometown.

Since entering the industry in 2006, 47-year-old Hong Dajun has been in the transportation industry for 14 years. Currently, his main routes are from Shouguang to Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, and other regions.

Over the past 14 years, Hong Dajun has accumulated rich experience in fruit and vegetable transportation. In his view, ensuring the freshness of goods during transportation is the most important. "The timeliness of fruit and vegetable transportation is crucial, so every truck driver hopes to improve transportation efficiency and ensure that fresh fruits and vegetables are delivered to the owner on time," Hong Dajun told reporters. "More than a decade ago, almost every village had vegetable collection points, but the roads to these points were not smooth, and the development of the fruit and vegetable industry was not as good as it is now. In recent years, with the continuous promotion of a series of transportation construction measures such as 'highways connecting every county, oil roads connecting every township, and hardened roads connecting every village,' and relying on resources such as professional cooperatives, the timeliness of vegetable transportation has been guaranteed, and transportation losses have been continuously reduced. Now, not only is my annual income considerable, but under my influence, my friends have also gradually bought trucks and embarked on the road to wealth."

In Shouguang, there are indeed many truck drivers like Hong Dajun who are engaged in fruit and vegetable transportation based on local. Under the construction of the rural logistics system and the promotion of a smooth road network, they have taken on the mission of bringing Shouguang vegetables "out," making Shouguang a true "hometown of Chinese vegetables," and allowing the development of logistics to truly benefit the local economy.

This year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the domestic social economy has suffered a significant blow. During the pandemic, vegetables and grains became important material guarantees for people's normal lives. As the national "vegetable basket," Shouguang quickly inspected the transportation roads of vegetable collection and sales points within its jurisdiction to ensure smooth vegetable purchasing and sales, and opened green channels for more than 1,000 supply and marketing points, ensuring that vegetable transportation vehicles can come in and go out.

Logistics sinking, e-commerce express "coming in".

The smoothness of logistics transportation has not only accelerated the pace of agricultural products "going out," making the upward path of agricultural products wider and wider. At the same time, the extensive road network and the continuously speeding up internet have also promoted rural market consumption to a certain extent, driving the rural economy.

"In recent years, rural express delivery points have become more and more popular, making it really more convenient and faster than before. I can receive things bought online in 2-3 days. During the recently concluded '6.18' shopping festival, I bought many things, including an electronic product that arrived the next day," said Mr. Zhang, a resident of Shangqiu, Henan, to reporters.

In the video sent by Mr. Zhang to reporters, the express delivery packages are lined up on the counter of the express delivery point, and villagers are coming and going to send and receive packages.

"However, five or six years ago, I could only pick up things I bought online in the county town, as they couldn't be delivered to the village, and there weren't as many express delivery points as there are now. Now, express delivery personnel can come to the village every day, and with smooth express logistics, everyone's online shopping has become more convenient, and more and more villagers are joining the online shopping army. In the future, I hope rural express delivery can be more convenient and truly reach every household," Mr. Zhang said.

Previously, due to reasons such as the scattered rural population and small business volume, many express delivery companies, based on cost considerations, mostly set up points only at the township level. In recent years, with the development of the internet and the expansion of rural consumption scale, express logistics has increasingly reached the sinking market, including rural areas, and villagers have truly felt the improvement and development of express logistics and the changes it has brought to rural life.

In fact, this change is not accidental. As early as 2014, the State Post Bureau launched the "Express Delivery to the Countryside" project. In April of this year, the State Post Bureau also issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for Express Delivery to Villages (2020-2022)," which clearly states that by the end of 2022, conditionally established villages will basically achieve "express delivery to every village." Currently, many provinces and cities, including Yunnan, Xinjiang, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Jiangsu, Anhui, Gansu, Shandong, and Chongqing, have successively introduced local versions of the "Three-Year Action Plan for Express Delivery to Villages," clarifying the promotion goals, main tasks, and implementation paths.

Relevant data shows that by the end of 2019, the coverage rate of express delivery service networks in rural areas of China had increased to 96.6%, with more than 30,000 express delivery points in rural areas, and 63,000 public pickup and delivery points, with over 15 billion express items collected and delivered in rural areas, supporting over 870 billion yuan of industrial products going to the countryside and agricultural products entering the city.

With the combined efforts of policies and the market, a new round of logistics sinking is accelerating comprehensively. It is foreseeable that in the coming years, with the promotion of central and local policies, rural logistics will develop to a greater extent, and the logistics network covering rural areas will achieve effective operation. At that time, more rural residents will enjoy the dividends brought by logistics development, and the vitality of the rural economy and rural market will be fully released.