Xing Cuicui Leads Villagers to Prosperity Through Rabbit Farming
Xing Cuicui is a recipient of the National Youth May Fourth Medal and the chairwoman of the Lvye Livestock and Poultry Cooperative in Huangpu Town, Qianshan County, Anhui Province. Many people might not guess that this delicate yet stubborn "post-80s" girl is also the first secretary of the Party branch of Baoling Village in Qianshan County. In 2009, Xing Cuicui gave up a high-paying job in Shanghai and returned to Qianshan, where she built Qianshan's first large-scale rabbit farm with her own hands. Today, the farm's annual output value reaches 2 million yuan, with more than 4,000 rex rabbits in stock, leading the villagers of Baoling Village onto the road to prosperity.
A Deep Yearning for Home Sparks the Dream of Entrepreneurship
Located in Huangpu Town, Baoling Village is less than 20 km from the county seat of Qianshan County. It features a typical hilly landscape with a warm climate and abundant rainfall, offering exceptional conditions for developing agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. "Rural areas have never left my sight. College students should go deep into rural areas and serve them. Choosing a distinctive agricultural project that suits rural development and caters to the consumption trends of the times became my first choice." That was what Xing Cuicui thought, and that was exactly what she did. In July 2007, Xing Cuicui, a graduate of Anhui University, returned to her hometown of Qianshan to begin her entrepreneurial journey. "I came back to develop here precisely because I saw the advantages of Qianshan's natural conditions."
Enduring Hardships, Holding Fast to the Dream
In 2009, Xing Cuicui returned to Baoling Village in Huangpu Town without telling her parents. From the very start of her business, she endured tremendous hardship. Before her farm was built, there were only two dilapidated sheds, one large and one small. To save on labor costs, she carried bricks, shoveled sand, and dug trenches under the scorching sun to build the facility. To save on material costs, when new bricks were insufficient, she tore them from old walls. The rabbit kindling boxes were also made by her own hands, scraping bark and sawing boards. During the early days of building the farm, she tasted every bitterness.
In October 2009, Xing Cuicui's farm was basically completed, and she introduced 800 meat rabbits for the first time. But as the Spring Festival approached, the rabbits suddenly fell ill and died in large numbers. Because the Spring Festival was near, the village veterinarians had all gone home for the holiday. She had no choice but to study animal husbandry and veterinary knowledge from books while personally dissecting sick rabbits, searching for the cause without sleep or rest. But hardworking Xing Cuicui still could not overcome this crisis; of the 800 breeding rabbits on the farm, fewer than 12 remained.
After Bitterness Comes Sweetness: Leading Villagers onto the Road to Wealth
Though she endured many hardships, Xing Cuicui never gave up. To understand the growth patterns of breeding rabbits, she moved into the rabbit shed. Every night at midnight she got up to observe the breeding rabbits' growth, carefully recording and studying their developmental changes, and ensuring sick rabbits were detected early, isolated early, and treated early. To support her entrepreneurship, Xing Cuicui's parents resolutely decided to sell their house in Shanghai, quit their stable jobs, and return to Qianshan, giving Xing Cuicui motivation and confidence. After a year of dedicated study and painstaking research, Xing Cuicui gained a deeper understanding of rex rabbit breeding and rabbit disease prevention and control. From an outsider who knew nothing, she transformed into a "rabbit-raising expert."
Having composed herself, Xing Cuicui set off again fully prepared. In June 2010, with strong support from the Qianshan County government, Xing Cuicui obtained a 100,000 yuan subsidized loan. From July to September of the same year, she successively introduced 3 batches of breeding rabbits, bringing the farm's breeding rabbit stock to more than 4,000. She also introduced rabbit vaccines from the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the rabbit disease problem was solved.
As the farm continued to grow, Xing Cuicui took the lead in establishing the Qianshan County Lvye Livestock and Poultry Breeding Cooperative, adopting a "company + farmer" model. The cooperative provides farmers with breeding rabbits, breeding technology, forage seeds and feed, vaccines, and more, and is responsible for buying back commercial rabbits, leading farmers in Baoling Village and surrounding villages onto the road to entrepreneurial prosperity. "The nearby villagers all raised rabbits with me, and in those years they earned over 100,000 yuan!" Speaking of the farm's glory days, Xing Cuicui could hardly conceal her joy.
"Being wealthy myself is nothing; I also want to lead the villagers to prosperity together." As the first secretary of the Party branch of Baoling Village, over several years, the Qianshan County Lvye Livestock and Poultry Breeding Cooperative founded under Xing Cuicui's leadership has grown to more than 600 members, producing over 50,000 commercial rabbits annually and increasing each household's income by more than 2,000 yuan.