Hubei tea merchant paves a road to prosperity on Muer Mountain, opening a new path for industry-driven poverty alleviation

Zhou Jiran instructs tea farmers on planting in the tea garden

As an entrepreneur, he transformed a desolate, uninhabited stretch of barren land into the largest contiguous ecological organic tea base in the country, writing the development history of Zouma tea in Hefeng; as an entrepreneur, he led impoverished farmers to reclaim wasteland and plant tea, truly making them masters of the tea mountain, enriching the corporate conscience of targeted poverty alleviation. He is an entrepreneur named Zhou Jiran, chairman of Xinnong Company in Zouma Town, Hefeng County, Hubei Province, and also one of "China's Good People."

Barren mountains and wild ridges transform into the most beautiful tea garden

"Nowadays, more and more tourists are coming to Muer Mountain, but they don't know what Muer Mountain used to be like..." When talking about Muer Mountain, local villagers can't wait to tell the story of Zhou Jiran reclaiming wasteland and planting tea.

25 years ago, Muer Mountain was still a barren mountain and wild ridge with no access to water, electricity or roads, a remote and impoverished place with no human habitation within a ten-kilometer radius.

In 1990, Zhou Jiran resolutely decided to lead more than 300 migrant workers to reclaim the wasteland. After several years of arduous struggle, they transformed 6000 mu of barren mountain into fertile soil, built tea gardens and timber and fruit orchards, and Muer Mountain became the now-famous tourist destination, selected as one of the "2015 Top 30 Most Beautiful Tea Gardens in China."

Going deep into the mountains to find the "most beautiful" tea farmers

Who would be responsible for tea picking and management in the tea garden? This was a problem that had to be solved. Zhou Jiran set his sights on the extremely impoverished population, yet in a place with no human habitation, who would go into the mountains to live like a "lonely ghost"?

Facing doubt and ridicule, Zhou Jiran did not lose heart. Starting in 1996, he spent several years traveling around in search of his "most beautiful" tea farmers. Along the Baiquan River, in Gangjiawan Village, Nanmu Village... his footprints were left everywhere.

Visiting these extremely impoverished households, Zhou Jiran endured all manner of hardship. Once, after walking more than 50 kilometers of mountain road continuously, he was so hungry that his strength gave out, and compounded by years of accumulated illness, he fainted on a small path in the wild mountain forest. He was finally found by a passing villager who took him to the hospital.

Yet heaven rewards the diligent. In just a few short years, Zhou Jiran relocated 67 extremely poor households, 338 people in total, to Muer Mountain, making them the true masters of the tea mountain.

Tea farmers escape poverty and stride toward moderate prosperity; the fragrance of tea paves a road to prosperity

"In the past I mainly relied on odd jobs to get by, and I still had elderly people and children at home to care for, so life was very hard. Later he came to find me, told me about the resettlement policy for Muer Mountain, and allocated us twenty or thirty mu of tea garden land. If not for him, I really wouldn't dare imagine the life I have now." Liu Baizhi, who could only barely make a living back then, now lives in a three-story Western-style house and has become secretary of the Muer Mountain professional cooperative. Within a few years, all the resettlers, just like Liu Baizhi, had escaped poverty and achieved prosperity.

Today, the villagers of Muer Mountain earn an annual per capita income of more than 20,000 yuan from tea picking alone, achieving poverty alleviation for every household and prosperity for every family. Muer Mountain changed the fate of a generation of resettlers. The story of this generation of resettlers escaping poverty and achieving prosperity has inspired more people to devote themselves to the tea industry, and the development of the Zouma tea industry has also driven thousands of households to escape poverty and achieve prosperity.

Breaking a new path for industry-driven poverty alleviation and development

Over 25 years, Zhou Jiran successfully broke a new path for industry and relocation-based poverty alleviation and development, leading more than 300 rural impoverished people to successfully escape poverty, laying a certain foundation for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

In accordance with the requirements of "tailoring measures to each village, one policy per household, one method per person," Zhou Jiran went from village to village and household to household conducting surveys to understand the industrial situation of poor households and the causes of their poverty. He explored and formulated a "1+6" model for participating in poverty alleviation, with industry-driven poverty alleviation as the main approach, driving the local economy through the three major industries of planting, livestock breeding and tourism, and participating in targeted poverty alleviation through five approaches: science and technology poverty alleviation, e-commerce poverty alleviation, employment poverty alleviation, compassion poverty alleviation and resettlement poverty alleviation.

In 2018, Hefeng was to achieve poverty alleviation and removal from the poverty-stricken county list; in 2020, the whole country will achieve moderate prosperity in all respects. He is determined to lead Xinnong Company in the next four years to take on the poverty alleviation work for 45% of the impoverished population of Zouma Town, involving 18 villages and 1 base, 2160 households and 6306 people.

Zhou Jiran said: "Xinnong Company must be committed to fulfilling the social responsibility of a leading enterprise, giving play to the pulling role of industry, and carrying out poverty alleviation work based on industrial development and supported by market benefits, so that impoverished people become a link in the industrial chain. As long as poor households do not escape poverty, the enterprise will not disengage, and we will make the greatest effort for Hefeng to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects!"