Sichuan returnee returns home to start a business growing fruit, driving the masses to prosper together
On a frosty morning in the depths of winter, the edges of roof tiles, the withered grass, and the mountain fields were all white, and even the shallow water in the fields had frozen over. While everyone else was still lingering in their warm beds, one figure had already walked into the fields, swinging a hoe to dig planting holes, set out seedlings, bank up soil, and cover with plastic film, working from dawn to dusk to build a beautiful "fruit kingdom."
He is Wen Hanjun, a "returnee" from Vietnam who came back home to start a business. In 2015, he rented more than 500 mu of land in Huaguang Township, Xichong County (Nanchong City, Sichuan Province), planting nearly 10 or more kinds of high-quality fruits such as citrus, apples, pears, peaches, and jujubes. At present, for the "fruit kingdom" he has built, Wen Hanjun has divided the land into 3 zones, intercropping fast-yielding crops and free-ranging poultry, making efficient use of land resources to support long-term crops with short-term ones.
Went abroad to work in a mold factory, finger was broken and he rested only 6 days
Wen Hanjun, now 41 years old, was born in Huaguang Township, the most remote township in Xichong County, right next to Shuanghe Township in Nanchong City. As soon as he left school, he took a train south to work in the coastal areas. Along with the wave of migrant labor, Wen Hanjun moved between Shenzhen and Beijing, and even went as far as Vietnam and other places. After more than 20 years of hard struggle, he earned himself capital and life experience.
In the summer of 1991, still a naive youth, Wen Hanjun went out to struggle all alone. Drifting away from home, life made him taste all the sweets and bitters of life.
"Working away from home is really hard. When my finger was broken, I only rested for 6 days." Wen Hanjun recalled that in July 1997, while working at a mold factory in Chaozhou City, due to tight delivery deadlines, he had to work long overtime hours, did not rest well, and was very exhausted.
One noon, while planing a plaster mold on a machine tool, he dozed off for just a moment, and Wen Hanjun's right index finger was broken. After simple bandaging, he stayed at home for only 6 days before going back to work injured. "Wages were high then, so who would be willing to waste time? One more day of rest meant one less day of wages."
Returned to China due to health reasons, reunited with family after 10 years apart
1998 was Wen Hanjun's happiest year, with a very good working and living environment. After nearly 10 years of striving, Wen Hanjun transformed from a mold apprentice into a company supervisor with solid skills and strong leadership ability.
"Once I received 8,000 yuan in cash, and I was so happy I did not know where to put the money." Wen Hanjun's face was full of smiles. That night, he counted the money again and again and did not sleep all night. The next day, he sent all the money to his parents, who were farming at home. As a white-collar worker, he was still not satisfied and wanted to go abroad to seek his fortune. That was in the autumn of 2001, when a chance opportunity took him to Vietnam.
"Income abroad was many times higher than at home." Wen Hanjun recalled with great excitement that he worked as a senior supervisor in Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and did so for nearly 10 years. He said he had originally wanted to continue, but due to his health, he needed to return to China for treatment.
In February 2009, work pressure grew greater and greater, and coupled with irregular eating, it caused endocrine disorders and constipation, which in turn caused other physical problems. "I really could not keep going, and I also wanted to go home." He said that with years of savings and an ailing body, he returned to his old home in Xichong, bought a new house, and reunited with his family. After returning home, what Wen Hanjun thought about most was starting a business in his hometown and driving his fellow villagers to prosperity.
Hired labor to level the land, bought 5 varieties and planted more than 8,000 citrus trees
In October 2015, after investigating many options, Wen Hanjun finally decided to engage in high-quality fruit planting. "The difficulties in agriculture far exceeded my expectations." Wen Hanjun said that just the land preparation alone almost overwhelmed him, but fortunately he received strong support from his family, which gave him the confidence and hope to keep going.
"For many plots, excavators simply could not get in." Wen Hanjun said that in order to plant in contiguous, large-scale plots, he hired labor to level more than 200 mu of wasteland into large sections of land. In mid-December 2015, Wen Hanjun finally finished turning and shaping the plots in Lijiawan, Renjiahu, Laojunguan, and other places in Huaguang Township. He was extremely excited and could hardly wait to carefully purchase more than 8,000 citrus trees of 5 varieties from elsewhere. Seeing the thick young seedlings, he felt a trace of sweetness in his heart.
It was the coldest month of winter, and the citrus seedlings needed to be planted as soon as possible. Another problem lay before Wen Hanjun: where could he find people to plant them? This made his mood, which had just improved a little, sink somewhat, and he did not sleep all night. On December 23, just as dawn was breaking, disregarding the biting wind outside and the frosty, slippery road, he rode a motorcycle hurriedly from the county seat to Huaguang Township to organize people to plant the seedlings.
Wen Hanjun said firmly that he had endured work that hard, so no difficulty could stop his pace in starting a business. "In whatever trade you do, as long as you persist, you can definitely realize your dream." He said that in 20 years of working away from home, he had only ever done mold work and nothing else. He believed that as long as he focused on fruit planting and had his family's support, he would definitely be able to build a beautiful fruit kingdom.
Telling the blueprint for entrepreneurship, supporting long-term crops with short-term ones to build a "fruit kingdom"
"I have loved planting fruit trees since I was a child, and I dreamed of having my own orchard." Wen Hanjun said that when he was little, whenever he found peach saplings by the roadside, he would transplant them around the house. The area around the old house was planted full of peach and pear trees, and more than 300 walnut trees were also planted on the hillside.
Wen Hanjun described his entrepreneurial blueprint. His "fruit kingdom" would be built in stages with citrus as the main crop. He had already planted 500 "Chunjian" citrus trees, 500 "Qingjian" citrus trees, 1,000 Wogan trees, 1,000 Daya trees, 500 Aiyuan trees, and 4,700 late-maturing blood orange trees. After the Spring Festival, he would also plant pears, apples, honey jujubes, kiwifruit, strawberries, fragrant peaches, and other fruits, and it was expected that in four years the "fruit kingdom" would be visible.
"There is still a long way to go to realize the dream." Wen Hanjun said he would adopt the method of "supporting long-term crops with short-term ones," comprehensively utilizing the land, and completing it in stages. At present, he had divided the land into 3 zones, intercropping fast-yielding crops and free-ranging poultry, making efficient use of land resources to support long-term crops with short-term ones.
In order to build his own "fruit kingdom," Wen Hanjun set aside 300 mu of prepared land as a planting area, intercropping crops such as wheat, rapeseed, and soybeans, which could both increase economic income and reduce weed growth and control labor costs; another 100 mu was used as a breeding area, with free-range chickens, ducks, and geese. The weeds in the fields were the best feed for ecological breeding, and the poultry manure in turn became the best organic fertilizer for the soil. Such an organic cycle could both save the feed cost of breeding and save spending on fertilizer and pesticides; the remaining 100 mu was used as a research area. He had already reached an agreement with an agricultural science institute to use the prepared land as a seed production base, which was more economically beneficial than planting ordinary crops.
Wen Hanjun said that returning home to start a business also required increasing income and helping the masses become wealthy. Villagers worked nearby in the orchard. When the most labor was needed, more than 30 person-times could be employed in a day, with daily wage expenditures of nearly 2,000 yuan. Adding land rent, more than 300,000 yuan had already been paid to nearby villagers.