The story of the Fruit Tree King leading the masses out of poverty toward prosperity

Shao Zhongzhong, now in his sixties, is a villager of Group 7 of Xietan Village, Xinning Town, Wuning County, and the founder of the Xialiu Yunlong Orchard and Flower Nursery. For more than a decade, by developing barren hills and slopes for both planting and breeding, he successfully carved out a path to prosperity. At the same time, after becoming prosperous himself, he did not forget his fellow villagers and led the surrounding people onto the road of common prosperity, earning him the title from his neighbors of "Fruit Tree King, Master of Prosperity."

In 1969, Shao Zhongzhong moved from Jiande County, Zhejiang Province, to Xietan Village, Xinning Town. In the late 1980s, the local resettlement department and the agriculture and animal husbandry bureau issued many policies to assist resettlers, among which planting nursery stock qualified for preferential benefits, so Shao Zhongzhong went back to his hometown in Zhejiang to learn seedling cultivation techniques. After returning, he planted two mu of citrus seedlings in front of his home and led his wife and children to open up the barren hill behind the house, planting self-bred and self-cultivated citrus seedlings on the barren hill. His hard sweat was rewarded with sturdy, vigorous citrus seedlings, which drew many farming households to his door seeking to buy them. After several years of operation, Shao Zhongzhong's income from nursery stock plus orchard income reached more than 50,000 yuan, letting him taste the sweetness of planting.

In 1995, Shao Zhongzhong wanted to expand his planting area, but was troubled by the lack of barren hill and slope land. After many twists and turns, he finally found more than 600 mu of barren hill at Xialiu Zhangping at the foot of Liushan in a neighboring village, embarking on a path of arduous entrepreneurship. There was no water on the hill, so Shao Zhongzhong dug a well at the foot of the hill and carried water to drink; there was no electricity on the hill, so Shao Zhongzhong lit a kerosene lamp. Through hard work, today the barren hill has become a green forest, has become a "golden mountain." Shao Zhongzhong used the barren hill to plant flowers and fruit trees, and at the same time set up a breeding farm. The flowers and fruit trees are diverse in variety and good in quality, including camellia, cherry blossom, red maple, crape myrtle, ginkgo, magnolia, red-leaf photinia, peach trees, pear trees, and so on. His newly built three-dimensional breeding farm has also begun to take shape, with 5,000 free-range native chickens, 1,000 ducks, and 2,000 quail. Now within a radius of dozens of kilometers everyone knows there is a king of flowers, fruit trees, and breeding at the foot of Liushan, and nowadays Shao Zhongzhong's annual net income reaches more than 500,000 yuan.

Having made his own fortune, Shao Zhongzhong did not forget his fellow villagers. In 2007, the county's relevant departments invited Shao Zhongzhong to give a lecture in Donglin Township of the county, and people from more than ten li around gathered in the township auditorium to hear him teach how to plant fruit trees. Zhao Wanxiang of Caiziping in Dutou Village was very hardworking and wanted to plant fruit trees, but was troubled by a lack of technique. When Shao Zhongzhong learned of this, he took the initiative to help Zhao Wanxiang at a low price with 70 mu of fruit seedlings. He also went to his door to pass on planting techniques, teaching him various management techniques hand by hand. Wei Zhifang of Group 7 of Liucun also, with Shao Zhongzhong's help, obtained 100 mu of low-priced seedlings and received Shao Zhongzhong's technical guidance.

For poor households who wanted to plant nursery stock, Shao Zhongzhong provided fruit tree seedlings free of charge many times, passing on techniques of pruning, grafting, fertilizing, and pest and disease prevention, leading them toward common prosperity. To enable large-scale fruit production and better serve fruit growers, Shao Zhongzhong organized nearby fruit growers to establish the Yunlong Orchard Professional Production Cooperative, and served as its chairman, forming an integrated system of production, supply, and sales. According to incomplete statistics, Shao Zhongzhong trained more than 100 technical backbone personnel for the whole county, helped more than 30 farming households and laid-off workers in 8 townships establish nearly 200 mu of premium orchards, distributed more than 4,000 copies of scientific and technological materials to fruit growers free of charge, and led more than 150 farming households to achieve poverty alleviation and prosperity.