College-graduate village officials are becoming a new force in rural entrepreneurship in China
“After 5 years in the countryside, I feel there is a lot to be done.” Sun Qinglin, a 28-year-old college-graduate village official in Fuxian County, Shaanxi, said recently at the 9th National College-Graduate Village Officials Forum held in Hufang Village, Qingshanhu District, Nanchang City, that he wants to sell his hometown's apples through the internet to more distant places, so that the fruit growers can have a good harvest.
In 2010, Sun Qinglin graduated from a university in Hunan and returned to his hometown in Shaanxi, where he passed the exam to become a college-graduate village official. After returning to the countryside, Sun Qinglin began thinking about entrepreneurial projects. In 2012, Sun Qinglin led fruit growers in establishing the Shaanxi Fuxian Hengkang Plateau Green Apple Professional Cooperative, with more than 30 fruit-growing households joining. In 2014, the cooperative began supplying e-commerce platforms.“Village officials must try things first. Only when you have achieved results yourself and made the fruit growers feel there is profit to be made will they follow suit.”
At the National College-Graduate Village Officials Forum, Sun Qinglin met nearly 300 outstanding college-graduate village officials from all over the country. They set up a liaison and communication group, displaying their respective local specialties and projects and recommending them to one another.“This is a great platform. What it expands is not just sales channels, but also the mindset for entrepreneurship and getting things done.”
Since China launched the college-graduate village official program 8 years ago, thousands upon thousands of young people like Sun Qinglin have gradually grown into a new force driving rural entrepreneurship in China.
The “2015 Report on the Development of China's College-Graduate Village Officials” released at this session of the forum pointed out that college-graduate village officials in various places have taken the lead in rural areas, spearheading entrepreneurship, showing farmers what to do, leading them in doing it, and helping them become prosperous, achieving many encouraging results. As of the end of 2014, more than 22,700 college-graduate village officials nationwide had started businesses, launching more than nearly 17,000 entrepreneurial projects, leading or jointly establishing 4,293 cooperatives, and providing more than 220,000 jobs for farmers.
“In the process of starting businesses together with ordinary people and growing prosperous together, we have greatly improved our understanding of the lives of grassroots people and our knowledge and awareness of society.” said Zhang Xiaobo, first secretary of the Party branch of Kesong Residents' Committee in Naidong County, Shannan Prefecture, Tibet. “Doing something is not as simple as imagined. Only after going through many setbacks can firm convictions be forged.”
“Entrepreneurship in rural areas especially requires confidence, perseverance and endurance.” Wei Niugeng, first secretary of the Party committee of Hufang Village and a national model worker, said when exchanging views with representatives of college-graduate village officials that Hufang Village started with 8,000 yuan and has developed from a famously poor village into a modern new village with rows of high-rise buildings, which is the result of a generation's hard struggle. “Although the entrepreneurial environment in some rural areas is currently tough, with the support of national policies, the opportunities of internet entrepreneurship, and the knowledge and entrepreneurial passion of college-graduate village officials, as long as they can carry forward the spirit of hard work and entrepreneurship, they will have great prospects in rural areas.”