A mining boss forges a green path to prosperity

Amid the upsurge of thoroughly studying and implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important speeches, the second phase of the themed practical activity "Study the Speeches, Go to the Grassroots, Produce Fine Works, Strengthen the Team," organized recently by the Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, the Provincial Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and the Provincial Journalists Association, came to Ganzhou. Our newspaper's reporters, together with reporters from central and provincial media, went deep into the grassroots to "connect with the real ground" and sank down to the front lines to "catch live fish," focusing on the city's key work such as the "Two Studies and One Action" learning and education campaign and the six major battles, spotlighting the vibrant front lines and reporting vivid practice. Starting today, our newspaper opens the column "Study the Speeches, Go to the Grassroots, Produce Fine Works, Strengthen the Team," publishing related reports sent back by reporters. Please stay tuned.

On July 19, braving the scorching sun and intense heat, the reporter arrived at the ten-thousand-mu oil tea base in Hexi Village, Huangbu Town, Shangyou County, where a wide cement road wound and stretched among the towering mountains and steep ridges, and oil tea trees stood lush and green, heavy with fruit, promising this autumn's harvest, while more than 10 villagers labored diligently on the mountain. Liao Taiqi, chairman of Qiangwang Oil Tea Development Company, who was strolling about the oil tea mountain, stroked one oil tea tree after another, inspecting their growth and fruiting conditions. Pointing to the distant mountains, he said excitedly to the reporter, "High-efficiency, high-yield improved-variety oil tea has been planted in every direction here. This year some of the oil tea has already borne fruit and begun to yield a harvest." His dark face was covered with a gratified smile.

From a mining boss to returning home to start a business, becoming the owner of a ten-thousand-mu oil tea base, Liao Taiqi has achieved his own green transformation. Now 60 years old, he remains full of ambition and enthusiasm. Every day he walks around the base to look and see, taking delight in it. Liao Taiqi is a farmer's son born and raised in the area. He went out to work at a very young age, rising from an ordinary tungsten miner to a mine manager overseeing more than 200 employees. Relying on funds, technology and management experience accumulated over many years, in 1990 he contracted the tungsten-tin mine under Jiangxi Yaosheng Industry and Trade Development Co., Ltd. Through years of hard struggle, its annual output value reached over ten million yuan, and he was once a mining boss of some local renown.

"I grew up drinking the water of my hometown. Now it is time to repay my hometown. I want to seek a path to prosperity for the local farmers." Speaking about returning home to develop the oil tea industry, Liao Taiqi said that although he had struggled away from home for many years, he always paid attention to his hometown's development. At that time, the local government attached great importance to the development of the oil tea industry and issued a series of policies and measures to encourage and support it. In a conversation with a friend, Liao Taiqi learned that the oil tea industry had broad prospects, so he set his sights on oil tea cultivation.

From tungsten mining to an ecological industry, in 2009 Liao Taiqi started a business again, weaving his green dream. With strong support from the local government, he transferred over ten thousand mu of land. In September of that year, Liao Taiqi invested more than 50 million yuan to establish Shangyou County Qiangwang Tea Oil Development Co., Ltd. The base was built using a planting model of "a hat on the mountain top, shoes on the mountain foot," and has now built more than 15,000 mu of high-efficiency oil tea base. Regarding the development prospects of the oil tea industry, Liao Taiqi said with full confidence, "The oil tea tree is a treasure from head to toe, with a long industrial chain. It is a very healthy edible oil and can also be widely used in daily chemicals and printing and dyeing. The industrial benefits have enormous room, and it is a long-lasting ecological industry that enriches the people."

Thanks to the oil tea base, more than 100 local farmers work there clearing the mountain, digging holes, planting and picking. Liao Taiqi said that in the past two years, wages paid to oil tea base employees alone amounted to more than 600,000 yuan a year. In addition, he adopted a "enterprise + base + farmer" business model, attracting more than 20 nearby farming households through startup funds, supportive loans and technical guidance to develop more than 5,000 mu of high-efficiency oil tea. Moreover, as an entrepreneur, Liao Taiqi also has a charitable heart; every year he gives out 100,000 yuan to aid poor students or support school infrastructure construction.

"Next, I want to build the Hexi ten-thousand-mu oil tea base into an oil tea science and technology demonstration park integrating a raw material base, production and processing, scientific and technological research and development, and leisure tourism, turning the park into a scenic area, deeply exploring tea oil culture, and investing 500 million yuan to build a 5A-level rural tourism attraction and create a 4A-level national tourist attraction." As for future development, Liao Taiqi has a well-thought-out plan.