Turtle King Chen Shaoping Leads the Whole Village in Farming Turtles, Together onto the Road to Prosperity

He established the “Fulong Turtle and Soft-Shelled Turtle Breeding Professional Cooperative,” leading the villagers to develop yellow sand soft-shelled turtle farming and bringing farmers together under a unified “cooperative + base + farmers” business model covering technical standards, supply of turtle hatchlings, procurement of production materials and market sales. The cooperative now has 150 farming households as members and has created more than 500 jobs for the villagers. For this he earned the title of “Turtle King” -- he is Chen Shaoping, a member of the Fumian District CPPCC.

Founding a Breeding Cooperative to Lead Villagers Boldly onto the Road to Prosperity

“I owe it entirely to Chen Shaoping teaching me turtle-farming techniques and giving me turtle hatchlings that I got onto the road to prosperity.” Chen Zhaohua, a villager from Longban Tun in Liulong Village, cannot praise Chen Shaoping enough. Chen Zhaohua, now in his sixties, has a slight disability in his left foot and does not walk easily. Although he had raised yellow sand soft-shelled turtles before, he had no techniques and no sales channels, so he basically made no money. After Chen Shaoping formed the “Fulong Turtle and Soft-Shelled Turtle Breeding Professional Cooperative” in 2012, he not only taught him farming techniques free of charge but also gave him 100 turtle hatchlings free every year. “Chen Shaoping takes special care of us poor households. At first he gave small hatchlings, but later, seeing that small hatchlings take too long to raise, he switched to giving 1.5-jin large hatchlings, which can be sold after just one year of raising.” Chen Zhaohua said that thanks to farming yellow sand soft-shelled turtles, he has now not only bought a car but also built a five-story house, successfully turning his life around from a poor household to a comfortably-off family.

“Liulong Village began farming yellow sand soft-shelled turtles back in the 1980s, but without advanced farming techniques, the villagers often toiled for years and still barely made any money,” Chen Shaoping said.

In 2007, after exploring and mastering a set of scientific farming techniques, he invested 1.5 million yuan to build the first standard yellow sand soft-shelled turtle breeding demonstration farm in Liulong Village, launching large-scale yellow sand soft-shelled turtle farming. To build it into an industry, Chen Shaoping adopted a “bring in, send out” approach: he hired experts from Guangdong Ocean University to give on-site guidance and sent technicians to visit and study at yellow sand soft-shelled turtle breeding bases in various places. By continuously summarising farming experience, he accumulated and refined a complete set of fairly mature and workable technical solutions covering everything from turtle and soft-shelled turtle seedling breeding to adult turtle farming and marketing. After several years of effort, the company grew rapidly and soon attracted more than 150 farming households to join the cooperative, providing the villagers with more than 500 jobs.

“Now all the cooperative members have built new houses and bought private cars,” Chen Shaoping said. Every year he also gives yellow sand soft-shelled turtles free of charge to more than 100 families with disabled members, along with free training in farming techniques, supplies of feed and fish medicine, and guaranteed-price buybacks; each such disabled family now increases its annual income by more than 4,000 yuan.

In 2010, the “Fulong Turtle and Soft-Shelled Turtle Breeding Professional Cooperative” founded by Chen Shaoping was honoured with the title of “Yulin City Key Leading Enterprise in Agricultural Industrialisation,” and he himself was named a “Yulin City Skilled Expert in Scientific Farming.” In 2013, the cooperative was named an autonomous-region leading enterprise in animal husbandry and aquatic products; in 2014 it was named a National Demonstration Base for Leisure Fisheries; and in 2015, Liulong Village was named “Guangxi Yellow Sand Soft-Shelled Turtle Village.”

Passionate About Building a Beautiful Countryside, Dedicated to Developing Liulong Village's Eco-Tourism Industry

In 2013, at a meeting of the Fumian District CPPCC, Chen Shaoping submitted the “Proposal on Advancing the Building of a 'Beautiful Countryside.'” He proposed that the government take on the main investment role and focus on solving the two major problems of rural sewage discharge and waste treatment. Village waste collection points should be set up with on-site processing, reducing investment costs, beautifying the village environment, improving the living environment, and establishing a long-term mechanism for rural sanitation and cleaning.

Later, in his capacity as a CPPCC member, Chen Shaoping convened a village representatives' meeting to study and formulate an improved mechanism for guaranteeing cleaning fees. “Now the village not only has regular cleaners who come to collect waste door to door, but has also set up a waste incineration point. The waste incinerator, with a total investment of 180,000 yuan, processes 8 tons of waste a day. Once the village's waste is collected, it can be incinerated right away,” Chen Shaoping explained.

Chen Shaoping actively promoted Liulong Village's infrastructure construction, making generous donations for paving village roads, installing street lights and building sewage treatment ponds. He said that as a CPPCC member, one should play one's proper role in building one's hometown and promote its prosperity and development. “My highest goal is to build Liulong Village into a 'five-star rural tourism area,'” Chen Shaoping said.

“Six dragons in splendour, upheld by the spiritual power of Tuoyan Ridge, respectfully welcome honoured guests; dragons soaring through the clouds, drawing on the feng shui of Longquan, generation after generation of able people emerge.” This couplet, inscribed at the Feiluyan scenic area in Liulong Village, has now become a description of the village's real scenery. As soon as you step into Liulong Village, you find green trees shading the paths, the fragrance of melons and fruit, lotuses and roses blooming in competition, and tourists who have come from far and wide enjoying themselves happily……

As a CPPCC member, Chen Shaoping actively offers suggestions and earnestly fulfils his sacred duty of participating in and discussing state affairs. “As long as something benefits my hometown's development, I am willing to do it, and I ought to do it.” This is something Chen Shaoping often says. He said he will vigorously develop Liulong Village's eco-tourism industry, “using the village's distinctive breeding industry and its rich tourism resources such as the ancient Feiluyan Temple and the Gonghe Reservoir to carefully build a modern eco-agricultural sightseeing tourism demonstration park with strong local characteristics.”