Shoe King Liu Xingming Transforms to Raise Chickens, Becomes Linshui Chicken Raising King

Releasing water, feeding, inspecting chicks... just after 7 am on July 5, Liu Xingming, a villager from Group 7 of Bajiao Village, Chengnan Town, Linshui County, was already busy at his free-range chicken breeding base.

"In the past, the village conditions were poor, so we could only go out to make a living. Now the village roads are built and the tourism industry has developed. Returning home to start a business, I am full of confidence!" Liu Xingming happily told reporters his entrepreneurial story.

Poor Family, Went Out to Work at 18

Bajiao Village, Chengnan Town, Linshui County is located in the middle section of the Tongluo Mountain range. For a long time, due to the lagging agricultural infrastructure and transportation conditions, local economic development has been severely restricted.

"At that time, there was no cement road in the village, and travel relied entirely on our legs. The land was barren, and crops could not be grown. The only way to make money was to go out to work." Liu Xingming said that because his mother was sick year-round and needed large medical expenses, the family burden was very heavy.

In 1989, 18-year-old Liu Xingming, like many young people in the village, chose to go out to work to support the family.

"I first grew citrus and cucumbers in Fujian, but the agricultural development there was not very good." During the several years working in Fujian, Liu Xingming worked while observing and found that shoe factories had good profits.

In 1995, Liu Xingming went alone to work at a shoe factory in Wenzhou.

Diligent and Eager to Learn, Became "Shoe King" in 5 Years

"At that time, business at Wenzhou shoe factories was incredibly good." When he first started working at the shoe factory, Liu Xingming was stunned by the factory's development. He thought, "If I had a shoe factory in Wenzhou, my whole family would not worry about food and drink."

Liu Xingming did not just daydream. From that time on, he worked from dawn to dusk making shoes to accumulate startup capital. At the same time, he studied technology earnestly to accumulate experience for opening a shoe factory in the future.

Five years later, Liu Xingming resigned from his job and invested all the 300,000 yuan he had accumulated into building a shoe factory.

"At first, I produced and processed shoes for others. Because I had not figured out the right approach, I was cheated several times." Liu Xingming recalled that his shoe factory made no money at all in the first year and even had a slight loss, but he did not give up because of this. In the second year, Liu Xingming raised funds everywhere and hired a development team at high salary, taking the path of independent research and development.

Five years later, Liu Xingming's shoe factory reached 1 million yuan in turnover, and he became the "Shoe King" in the mouths of Bajiao Village villagers.

"At first, the shoes were mainly sold domestically, but I felt we could also do foreign trade." Afterwards, Liu Xingming traveled everywhere to open up foreign trade sales channels, and the business flourished. At its peak, turnover once exceeded 2 million yuan.

Aiming at Business Opportunities, Returned Home for a Second Startup

Liu Xingming's shoe business in Wenzhou was getting better and better, and he was fully capable of bringing his family to Wenzhou for a better life. Why did he choose to return home to start a business this year? Liu Xingming told reporters, "Actually, the village has abundant resources and can do planting and breeding, but in the past the village was poor and the roads were not open, so going out and transporting goods were inconvenient. During the Spring Festival this year, when I returned home to visit relatives, I walked on the broad and flat road and saw an endless stream of people traveling to Tongluo Mountain, so I developed the idea of returning home to start a business."

"Tourists to the Tongluo Mountain ecological tourism scenic area all buy some local chickens and ducks from farmers' homes to take away when they leave. This is a very good business opportunity." Liu Xingming immediately decided to set up a free-range chicken breeding base in the village, on the one hand making it convenient for him to care for his elderly and frail mother at home, and on the other hand driving surrounding neighbors to become wealthy.

In March this year, Liu Xingming handed over the Wenzhou shoe factory to his younger brother to take over, while he settled down to start a business in his hometown. Now, Liu Xingming has transferred more than 60 mu of land, raised more than 4,000 free-range chickens, and also established the Yihai Professional Breeding Cooperative. He has also become a widely known "Chicken Raising King."

"My goal is to raise 20,000 free-range chickens, with about 500,000 yuan in net profit a year." Liu Xingming said that after he becomes proficient in all aspects of the technology, he will teach the techniques to villagers willing to raise free-range chickens free of charge, and purchase the free-range chickens raised by villagers at a price higher than the market price for unified sales, broadening the villagers' channels to wealth.