Miniature bonsai cultivation becomes a new direction for college student Xu Changli's return-home entrepreneurship

Xu Changli is checking online orders for miniature bonsai.

Xu Changli, 29 years old this year, is from Miaolizhuang Village, Heying Township, Xiayi County, Henan Province. In 2010, after graduating from Kaifeng University with a major in mechanical engineering, he went to his sister's flower base in Shuyang, Jiangsu, to help out and began to get involved in flower cultivation.

In the winter of 2014, Xu Changli saw broad prospects in the flower market, so he returned to his hometown, Miaolizhuang Village, to start his own business. He used his family's contracted fields to build greenhouses, develop miniature bonsai, and grow herbs, succulents, and more. He also founded the Qingxin Huacao online store to sell his miniature bonsai online. His miniature bonsai such as herbs, succulents, Sedum acre, Ceropegia woodii, and purple-leaf plants sold briskly, with economic returns dozens of times higher than traditional crop cultivation. "I am currently transferring villagers' land and preparing to implement a 'base + farmers' planting cooperation model to lead impoverished villagers toward shared income growth and escape from poverty," said Xu Changli.