How can the dream of prosperity in the depths of the mountains become a reality?
Group 4 of Taoyuan Village, Fenghuang Town, Zhashui County is located deep in the mountains. The road here was only built last year. People have lived alongside the mountains for generations, and many have never set foot outside the mountains their whole lives.
After the county-wide poverty alleviation work began, the work team from the Party School of the Zhashui County Party Committee stationed itself in Taoyuan Village, pairing up with more than 10 poor households scattered along the gully, registering them and establishing files, and guiding them to develop industries to escape poverty.
Huang Maosheng, who lives at the head of the gully, is the only person in the gully who has seen the wider world. Just over 40, he had been working at the Xiaoling mine. After the mine shut down last year, he lost his job and had no choice but to return to the gully. In this round of registering poor households and establishing files, Huang Maosheng's family was the only one in the village not included on the list of poor households. Encouraged by the poverty alleviation work team, Huang Maosheng learned about some of the preferential policies for industry-based poverty alleviation. He was tempted, and decided to take the lead in joining with several poor households to establish the Maosheng Free-Range Chicken Breeding Professional Cooperative, making use of the fresh air and clean water in the gully to raise free-range chickens.
No sooner said than done. With the help of the work team, Huang Maosheng completed all the paperwork within a few days. During those days, in this place with no communications signal, Huang Maosheng rode his worn-out motorcycle back and forth countless times, patiently explaining the policies to the poor households and publicizing them over and over. With the help of the loan policy for poor households, they raised 100,000 yuan in funds, built a standardized 360 sq m chicken coop against the hillside, and fenced off more than 20 mu of their own woodland, building a standardized breeding farm capable of raising 3,000 to 5,000 free-range chickens, and bringing in all 10 surrounding poor households.
Around the summer solstice, the first batch of 3,000 free-range chickens arrived. That day the little mountain gully was buzzing. The crisp chirping of the chicks filled the quiet valley with life. Huang Maosheng could not hide the joy all over his face: "These 3,000 are expected to bring in 100,000 yuan by the end of the year, and can raise each poor household's income by 2,000 yuan. Next year I'll fence off the land on the opposite mountain and expand the scale of the operation."
"Yo... yo..." With the calls of Huang Maosheng's wife, several thousand chicks converged into a yellow surging stream pouring toward the feeding ground. Seeing this spectacular scene, Huang Maosheng smiled, his eyes full of hope and dreams.