STORY: "Vegetable basket bus" bridges farmers with market in C China's Wuhan
SHOOTING TIME: Sept. 3, 2024
DATELINE: Sept. 7, 2024
LENGTH: 00:02:04
LOCATION: WUHAN, China
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. STANDUP 1 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
2. STANDUP 2 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
3. various of the vegetable basket bus
4. STANDUP 3 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
5. STANDUP 4 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
6. SOUNDBITE (Chinese): TU JIXING, Farmer

STORYLINE:

STANDUP 1 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
"Good morning, we are at a bus station in the southernmost part of Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. It's 5:30 in the morning, and the sky is gradually getting brighter. We can see that there are some people waiting for the bus. It's not an ordinary bus, but one specially set up for farmers to sell vegetables in the urban area. All right, let's have a look."

STANDUP 2 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
"The bus, also called the 'vegetable basket bus,' departs at 5:40 a.m. and drives for about one hour to reach one of the largest farmers' markets in Jiangxia District of Wuhan City.
Many villagers along the bus route are elderly individuals who grow vegetables at home. When they have excess produce that they cannot consume, they bring it to market to sell.
But it was another story several years ago, when the rural area along the bus route was not fully covered by public transport.
They had few choices but to rent vehicles to transport goods to the market, which was costly and brought them traffic safety risks.
At the end of 2020, the local public transport company opened a special bus line, namely the 'vegetable basket bus line,' and later added more buses and adjusted the departure time several times, making it more convenient for farmers to get to the urban area."

STANDUP 3 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
"We can see that these are all fresh vegetables and fruits they just picked from their farmlands."

STANDUP 4 (English): TIAN ZHONGQUAN, Xinhua correspondent
"How heavy are these lotus pods?" 

SOUNDBITE (Chinese): TU JIXING, Farmer
"55 kg. Since there wasn't a bus before, we couldn't go to the market and could only sell them on the local street. It's more convenient now. We have senior cards, so it's free to take the bus. It's also convenient for us to buy things in the urban area."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Wuhan, China.
(XHTV)