How Zhang Changping Led the Masses to Prosper Together
Langxi has such an ordinary rural Party member. In 2009 he was named an "Anhui Province Pioneer in Farmer Entrepreneurship"; in 2012 he was named an "Anhui Province Model Worker," and the Changping Crop Planting Family Farm he founded was named a "Xuancheng City Demonstration Family Farm"; in 2015 he was named a "National Model Worker," making him the 3rd person in the county to receive this honor since the founding of the People's Republic of China.
The Dream of Entrepreneurship Lies in Persistence
Zhang Changping, born and raised in the countryside, always had the dream of making a fortune. After repeated setbacks, he came to understand one truth: to start a business, get rich and achieve moderate prosperity, one cannot do without solid skills. So Zhang Changping actively took part in rural entrepreneurship and science-and-technology training organized by the province, city and county, and at the same time subscribed to various science-and-technology newspapers and magazines. He also got internet access and often studied and learned from others online. Through unremitting efforts, his professional knowledge grew richer day by day.
Skill alone was not enough; finding the right path for entrepreneurship was also important. Zhang Changping keenly recognized that the large areas of low-lying fields near the shores of Nanyi Lake held great potential. Starting in 2002, with strong support and help from the county agriculture committee and the local Party committee and government, he raised more than 1.8 million yuan, hired a professional earthwork construction team, and developed more than 1,600 mu of contiguous barren low-lying fields. To further improve agricultural efficiency and build a standardized agricultural demonstration base, over the years he raised funds through many channels, investing more than 8.6 million yuan in total, and repeatedly carried out standardized upgrades of his planting and breeding base.
Mastering Science and Technology, Eager to Help Others
The "Xingfu Manor" on the east lake of Nanyi Lake is adjacent to Zhang Changping's "Changping Crop Planting Family Farm" and has 13,000 mu of high-quality water surface. Its developer, Tianyi Group, had long been engaged in conventional fish and pearl farming, but because the pearl market was poor, profits were unsatisfactory. Seeing their difficulties, Zhang Changping took the initiative to contact the company's boss Shao Xiaoming and accompanied him many times on visits and inspections to developed aquaculture regions such as Zhejiang and Shanghai. They respectively introduced high-efficiency breeding varieties such as "Taihu No. 1" oriental river prawn, American California bass, and spotted catfish, enabling Tianyi Group's breeding profits to increase year by year.
Liu Shuqi, an aquaculture farmer in Jianping Town, had been engaged in aquaculture for many years, but due to reasons such as funding and technology, his profits were poor. Zhang Changping took the initiative to lend a hand, helping him plan more than 300 mu of breeding ponds into intensive oriental river prawn ponds, and often went to the ponds to help solve difficulties encountered in the breeding process. He also successively provided Liu Shuqi with 120,000 yuan in breeding funds. With Zhang Changping's eager help, in 2014 Liu Shuqi harvested more than 30 tons of oriental river prawns, generating an output value of more than 1.5 million yuan and a net profit of more than 700,000 yuan.
Like Liu Shuqi, under Zhang Changping's drive and influence, more than 250 farming households around the shores of Nanyi Lake all actively took up large-scale agricultural planting and high-efficiency aquaculture, powerfully promoting the vigorous development of new agricultural business entities in Langxi County.
Leading Fellow Villagers to Build Moderate Prosperity Together
"Getting rich as an individual counts for little; only by leading the surrounding masses to prosper together is it the greatest contribution to society." Zhang Changping says this, and this is also what he does. He persists in giving play to the red banner role of a Party member, leading the masses to prosper together.
In the lakeside administrative villages of Feili Town such as Tanggeng, Xinfa, Huangxiang and Hubin, because the terrain is low-lying, every year when the flood season comes the rice fields are plagued by flooding. Seeing that large stretches of wasteland at their doorstep were unused and it was a pity to let them lie waste, Zhang Changping took the initiative to find people to raise funds for development, guiding local farmers to use the low-lying fields to breed special aquatic products such as river crabs, crayfish and oriental river prawns. He also helped more than 40 large planting and breeding households establish family farms, directly driving the development of distinctive planting and breeding in townships such as Feili, Biqiao, Xinfa and Jianping, and pushing Langxi's local distinctive agriculture to take shape and increase efficiency.
Over the years, under the guidance of the Party and the state's support policies, Zhang Changping, relying on his own diligent hands and intelligence, has worked hard to start a business. Not only has he himself embarked on the road to prosperity, he has also led the masses to prosper together, achieving good economic and social benefits and winning the respect and affection of his neighbors. On the road to prosperity, he has written a different kind of life for himself. "Now the people around me see that the profits are pretty good and come to learn, and I am willing to teach them," Zhang Changping said. "Next, we will use the surrounding advantageous resources to motivate more ordinary people and engage in comprehensive planting, and in the future it will become more large-scale and modernized."