With his hardworking hands, he felt his way to a path of prosperity

Guo Dexiang is feeding the chickens.

He appears to have a pair of normal-sized eyes, but when he looks at people or objects, everything is a blur. The locals call him a "blind man with open eyes." Yet at his fruit and vegetable base, he can point out with perfect clarity which plot and which greenhouse grows what kind of fruit or vegetable. He can even do field management, fertilizing, and tying up branches by touch. In just over two years, he "felt" his way to building a fruit-and-vegetable base that combines planting and breeding, and set out on the road to prosperity. In 2015, the fruit and vegetable planting cooperative he founded was commended by the Chongqing General Supply and Marketing Cooperative as a "Chongqing Demonstration Farmers' Cooperative," and was commended by Qianjiang District as an "Outstanding Professional Cooperative." His name is Guo Dexiang.

Guo Dexiang, 45 years old this year, is a native of Shihui Town, Qianjiang District. After graduating from junior high school, he began learning the timber business, which he did for more than 20 years, until abnormalities appeared in both eyes in 2009, when he stopped and was diagnosed by the hospital with "glaucoma." Treatment cost more than 100,000 yuan, yet his eyesight still did not recover. Now his left eye has lost its vision, and his right eye sees everything as a blur; he has been certified as having "Grade II visual (blindness) disability."

Guo Dexiang has a father nearing 90, and two children, one in high school and one in junior high. He also takes medicine long-term, so the whole family relied on his wife Hu Mingyue working at a restaurant to make ends meet. To improve the family's life, in the autumn of 2013, Hu Mingyue helped Guo Dexiang back to Group 2 of Guanzhuang Village, Mala Town, her parents' home, and they established a 240-mu fruit and vegetable base.

Which plot has not been fertilized and which plot's vegetables are ready to harvest, Guo Dexiang relies on touch. He can even sense when the workers have not leveled the seedbeds properly. He can also do the hands-on work of fertilizing fruit trees or vegetables.

Starting with growing vegetables, Guo Dexiang raises 2,000 free-range chickens each year, and all the chicken manure is used as base fertilizer for the vegetables. In 2014, Guo Dexiang planted 15 varieties of vegetables, and that year's net income reached more than 400,000 yuan, and he established a fruit and vegetable planting joint-stock professional cooperative.

At Guo Dexiang's fruit and vegetable base, he has long-term hired one technician and 11 workers. Among them, 6 are local villagers with physical disabilities. He also integrated with Qianjiang's targeted poverty alleviation work, helping 25 disabled families in Guanzhuang Village by giving each household free vegetable seeds for 3 mu of land, and once the vegetables are ripe, transporting them free of charge into the city for sale.

When the district disabled persons' federation learned that Guo Dexiang had not only started his own business and become prosperous, but also driven more than 30 disabled families in the village to increase their income, it greatly praised Guo Dexiang's charitable entrepreneurial efforts. To encourage Guo Dexiang's entrepreneurial enthusiasm, the district disabled persons' federation, while fully implementing Qianjiang's targeted poverty alleviation work, actively sought policy and funding support for him, and took the lead with the district agriculture committee, the district poverty alleviation office, the district finance bureau and other units to treat Guo Dexiang as a model of disabled entrepreneurship, helping expand the base and make it bigger and stronger.

Last year, with the help of these departments, Guo Dexiang expanded by 100 greenhouses. At present, the base's vegetable planting scale has reached 240 mu, and fruit has reached 150 mu. To make his work easier, the Mala Town government funded the construction of a convenience bridge near his base.

"In my greenhouses I have planted grapes, dragon fruit, watermelon and so on. It is expected that this year grapes can bring in 200,000 yuan, watermelon 100,000 yuan, and vegetables 500,000 yuan," Guo Dexiang said confidently.

After more than two years of hard work, Guo Dexiang has "felt" out a happy life of his own with his two hands, not only creating the conditions for his children to attend university, but also realizing the dream of a disabled family having a car and a house.