Taihang's Foolish Old Man Li Baoguo: both a science and technology god of wealth and a farm worker

Original title: [Pioneer of the Times] Taihang's Foolish Old Man, God of Wealth in Science and Technology

——In memory of Li Baoguo, professor and doctoral supervisor at Hebei Agricultural University

Li Baoguo (front left) explaining fruit tree pruning knowledge to villagers in Gangdi Village, Neiqiu County, Hebei Province (photo taken on January 27). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Xudong (online illustration: People's Daily)

What kind of life journey was this? In 58 years of life, across 35 springs and autumns, he spent more than 200 days every year traveling through the gullies, ravines and slopes of the Taihang Mountains, so that even with his eyes closed, just by sniffing the air, he could accurately say which area of the Taihang range he had reached.

What kind of personal charisma was this? The death of a university professor drew candlelight tributes from 290,000 people and the attention of 90 million. Tens of thousands of villagers in mountainous areas such as Pingshan County and Neiqiu County in Hebei Province set up mourning halls on their own and placed his ashes at the highest point of the Taihang Mountains.

The man who forged such a life was Li Baoguo, a doctoral supervisor at Hebei Agricultural University, known as "Taihang's Foolish Old Man," the "God of Wealth in Science and Technology" and the "Professor of Farmers." In the early hours of April 10, 2016, Li Baoguo died unfortunately from a sudden heart attack at the age of only 58.

"Taihang's Foolish Old Man": "I am a farmer's son, and I cannot bear to see ordinary people poor"

On February 26, 1981, Li Baoguo graduated from Hebei Forestry College (later merged into Hebei Agricultural University) and stayed on to teach. On March 6 of the same year, responding to the school's call, he went into the Taihang Mountains and arrived at Qiannanyu Village, Xingtai County, Hebei Province, throwing himself into a small-watershed three-dimensional development project. The mountain soil here was thin and did not retain water. Trees were planted year after year with no results, and per capita income was less than 50 yuan.

"I am a farmer's son, and I cannot bear to see ordinary people poor." Li Baoguo resolved to find a way to help local farmers escape poverty and become prosperous. Rising early and working late, after traversing every gully and ridge on the mountain, Li Baoguo and his research team thoroughly understood the character of the mountain soil and proposed using explosive land preparation to gather soil and intercept water, so that vegetation could become rooted.

Thanks to the "gathering and continuing" ecological agriculture engineering technology for the low-mountain gneiss areas of the Taihang Mountains developed by Li Baoguo, Qiannanyu's soil became thicker and its water more abundant, and the survival rate of planted trees leapt from the original 10% to 90%. Today's Qiannanyu has turned 8,000 mu of barren mountains and bare ridges into "the greenest place in the Taihang Mountains," with a forest coverage rate of 90.7% and a vegetation coverage rate of 94.6%. It was nominated for the United Nations "Global 500" environmental award, and per capita income reached 10,600 yuan.

"God of Wealth in Science and Technology": "Whatever ordinary people need, that is what I research"

After Qiannanyu came Gangdi Village in Neiqiu, Huluyu in Pingshan, Fenghuangling in Lincheng... Over 35 years, Li Baoguo directly assisted more than 40 villages, with a total technical demonstration and promotion area of more than 10 million mu, increasing income in mountainous areas by 3.53 billion yuan.

In 1999, Gao Shengfu, chairman of Hebei Lvling Fruit Industry Company, contracted 3,500 mu of arid hilly ridge land at Fenghuangling in Lincheng County, Hebei, and after planting walnut saplings, large areas died. Li Baoguo was invited to come. Through sampling, he found that the surface layer was a rubble beach, and the rubble beach did not hold water; below it was a ginger-stone layer, and the ginger stone was strongly alkaline. Fenghuangling simply could not support living trees.

Li Baoguo formulated a remediation plan to "dig out the cobblestones, break through the ginger-stone layer, and dig trenches to establish a water-retaining layer," and introduced 19 fine walnut varieties and 11 hickory varieties, carrying out repeated grafting and tissue culture experiments. After 5 years of unremitting efforts, he successfully bred a new walnut variety——Lvling walnut, and the "Lvling thin-shelled walnut dwarf dense-planting cultivation technology" he promoted was recognized as a domestic first.

On the selection of topics for scientific and technological research, Li Baoguo once said: "Poverty alleviation sets the questions for scientific research, and scientific research solves the difficulties of poverty alleviation. Whatever ordinary people need, that is what I research."

In this way, Li Baoguo, this "God of Wealth in Science and Technology," opened one battlefield after another in the Taihang Mountains and successively achieved 28 research results. Among them, thin-shelled walnut cultivation technology alone was promoted on 600,000 mu in Xingtai City, with an annual output value exceeding 2 billion yuan, opening a path of poverty alleviation in which economic benefits and ecological benefits rose together.

"Professor of Farmers": "It turned me into a farmer, and turned more and more farmers into 'me'"

Li Baoguo carefully studied farmers' psychology and language, using words they could accept and understand to help them quickly accept and master new technology.

In the more than 1,000 mu apple orchard of Siyu Village, Zanhuang County, yields had long remained low. An expert was invited to lecture for a day, with a great pile of nouns and terminology, and the villagers listened until their heads spun and they scratched their scalps. The villagers invited Li Baoguo because of his reputation. He taught only two things: one was "fruit-bearing branches," and the other was "non-fruit-bearing branches." He finished in half an hour, and the villagers said: "So it was this simple." Over 35 years, Li Baoguo promoted 36 standardized forestry technologies, including intensive cultivation of Taihang chestnuts, high-quality pollution-free apple cultivation, and green walnut cultivation. He held more than 800 training classes and trained more than 90,000 person-times.

Han Zhenjiang, a villager from Gangdi Village in Neiqiu County, was one of Li Baoguo's farmer students. Han Zhenjiang said: "Every time Teacher Li came to the village to guide us in technology, he taught us hand by hand in the orchard. If we did not get it after one time, he taught a second time; if not after a second time, then a third. He was never impatient." Now Han Zhenjiang's family plants more than 700 apple trees, and in 2015 their net income was more than 200,000 yuan.

Last winter, Li Baoguo presided over the first Gangdi fruit farmers' expert forum, where 11 farmers took the stage to speak. After it ended, he happily told Yang Shuangniu, secretary of the village Party general branch: "The most satisfying thing in this life is doing two things: first, turning me into a farmer; second, turning more and more farmers into 'me.'"

Short commentary:

The times need experts like Li Baoguo

The meaning of life lies not in its length, but in its depth. Although the life of Li Baoguo, a professor at Hebei Agricultural University, was short, he devoted his limited life to unlimited service to the people, like a pine on the Taihang Mountains, deeply rooted in this land.

Not long ago, Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out at a symposium with representatives of intellectuals, model workers and young people that bravely standing at the forefront and leading innovation is the character that intellectuals should possess, and that embracing the world as one community and upholding justice is the sentiment that intellectuals should possess. Li Baoguo was an intellectual with both character and sentiment. To promote economic and social development, promote social civilization and progress, and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects, more intellectuals with character and sentiment are needed. Intellectuals should have the political quality of bearing the masses in mind and serving society, establish the striving spirit of hard work and the Foolish Old Man who moved the mountains, and pursue the value of indifference to fame and wealth and selfless dedication. Taking Li Baoguo as an example, they should always keep the interests of the masses in their hearts, keep responsibility in their hearts, carry it on their shoulders, and put it into practice, and submit the answer sheet most satisfactory to the people.

(Our reporter Geng Jiankuo)