For his work cultivating lettuce and watermelons, Xin Hongquan, chairman of the Jiyuan Agricultural Planting Centre in Chang'an Village, Wenling City, has won a 2021 “Golden Bull Award,” given to leaders of rural revitalisation in Zhejiang Province.
In the village's modern, irrigated greenhouses, the middle of winter feels like spring, with lettuce already growing and watermelon soon to be planted.
A “kingdom of melons” earning 100 million yuan annually
When Xin Hongquan retired from the army and returned home, his mother persuaded him to take up farming.
Throughout his difficulties adjusting to a new profession, Feng Yunfen, his wife, stayed at his side and encouraged him.
She said, "My husband loves to study. When he started his business, he was unfamiliar with the technology for planting melons, but by reading, and consulting experts, he taught himself how to use it.”
His hard work and persistence led to Xin Hongquan founding the Wenling Jiyuan Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative in 2005.
These days, high standards of agricultural production have to be met in order to ensure a sufficient and steady income.
Xin Hongquan and his wife have both applied to the Wenling School of Zhejiang Open University as “rural college students,” studying and working at the same time.
The Jiyuan Fruit and Vegetable Professional Cooperative, of which he is chair, now covers an area of more than 7,780 mu (about 519 hectares), has over 140 members, and an annual total output of over 100 million yuan. It is a veritable “kingdom of melons”.
Weaving “common prosperity” with melon vines
"Real prosperity is common prosperity”. Drawing on the leadership skills he learned as a soldier, Xin Hongquan has been guiding his fellow villagers toward prosperity. Based on a model he established of interplanting melons and lettuces suited to the Wenling climate, over 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares) have been cultivated by farmers in the area.
Pan Shanshan, a villager, says she used to spend her free time playing mahjong and shopping. “Now, under the leadership of Party branch secretary Xin, we plant fruits and vegetables year round, and are living richer and more fulfilling lives.”
30 or 40 new varieties are introduced on a trial basis every year, with the successful ones allowing farmers to continue to increase their income.
Xin Hongquan now plans to set up a watermelon and muskmelon test station in Wenling to provide farmers with technical guidance and sales channels, spurring improvements to agricultural technology.
He was named a “National Model Veteran” in July 2019, “National Advanced Individual in Poverty Alleviation” in February 2021, and an “Excellent Zhejiang Communist Party Member” in July 2021. Behind the honours are Xin Hongquan's devotion to his fellow villagers and unremitting efforts on their behalf.
Rural college students devote their learning to rural revitalisation
Rural revitalisation is founded on sound training, and since 2004, Zhejiang Open University has graduated approximately 90,000 rural students, with over 94% of them staying in the countryside as the “engines of common prosperity” there, and as outstanding models to farmers seeking better lives.
"Most of them are originally from the countryside, and eager to remain there,” said Zhang Jianguo, president of Zhejiang Open University. The university plans to enrol another 50,000 rural students in agriculture-related majors, and train 1 million farmers in the next five years, while building demonstration areas to boost high-quality development.
Reprinted by the OUC News Network from Qianjiang Evening News