Iron shoulders bear the burden of increasing a small family's income, driving everyone to prosper together

Jiang Xianqing working in the fields.

Caring for his younger brother.

Herding yellow goats.

He is hailed by the people as "the man who cannot be crushed"

His 70-year-old mother has long suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis, bone hyperplasia and other illnesses; his 74-year-old father has a grade-4 disability in his left leg; his 40-year-old younger brother is disabled in both legs and has been bedridden for 13 years; his wife's left leg has remained paralyzed and atrophied; he not only has to care for four severely ill and disabled family members and develop income-generating projects for the household, but also shoulders the responsibility of leading the 18 households in his group out of poverty to prosperity... Yet none of this has crushed this farmer in the depths of the mountains of northern Sichuan!

Before the holiday, this writer interviewed the man hailed by local people as "the man who cannot be crushed" - Jiang Xianqing, head of Group 3 of Yunwu Village, Wanshan Township, Wangcang County, and a Communist Party member.

Caring for ill and disabled relatives alone without complaint or regret

At Jiang Xianqing's home, this writer saw that all the furniture was kept spotlessly clean. Jiang Xianqing had just finished decocting medicine for his 70-year-old mother He Qingxiang, and was then busy helping his younger brother He Dengjun (who took his mother's surname), disabled in both legs and bedridden, eat breakfast.

According to reports, his younger brother He Dengjun, now 40, suffered a grade-2 disability in both legs more than ten years ago due to a workplace accident while working at an enterprise in the county, and his sister-in-law later remarried someone else, taking their son who was not yet one year old! "Although my father, mother and wife are all afflicted by serious illness (disability), and my two children are still in school, I couldn't just watch my younger brother fall!" Jiang Xianqing said. For convenience in caring for him, "I gritted my teeth and carried my younger brother back home. I will take care of him!"

His wife, in the county town, cares for their two children's schooling while also doing odd jobs to earn money to supplement the household income, and hardly ever comes home throughout the year. All the major and minor matters at home fall on Jiang Xianqing's shoulders. He not only has to manage household chores, but also has to work in the fields and care for his parents and younger brother. Running nonstop morning and night has become Jiang Xianqing's normal way of life.

Not waiting or relying on others, starting a business to prosper and change his predicament

Jiang Xianqing said that because his younger brother and parents need medicine year-round, his two children need money for school, and the household's daily expenses are considerable, he could only care for his family while planning development to change his predicament.

In 2007, Jiang Xianqing and his wife decided to develop a family livestock business at home. "I had no experience at the time, so I learned while raising them!" Jiang Xianqing said. That year he spent more than 3,000 yuan to buy 10 Nanjiang yellow goats to raise. "After careful feeding and care, that year I earned more than 10,000 yuan."

Jiang Xianqing said that after several years of exploration and practice, he also accumulated a lot of experience in raising yellow goats. Last year, with the guidance and help of the county animal husbandry department, he built an 80-square-meter standardized goat shed and raised 80 yellow goats, plus 15 mu of already planted walnuts and 3 mu of rhubarb medicinal herbs, with income reaching about 40,000 yuan.

"This year I also plan to expand the scale further, with plans to sell 30 yellow goats, newly plant 780 sticks of Polyporus umbellatus, newly develop 3 mu of rhubarb, newly develop 5 mu of walnuts, and plant 2 mu of konjac, with an estimated annual income of about 60,000 yuan." Speaking of his future plans, Jiang Xianqing was full of confidence.

Bravely taking the lead to guide villagers onto the road to prosperity

Group 3 of Yunwu Village currently has 18 households and 100 people, who mainly make a living by growing traditional food crops such as corn, potatoes and wheat, and many people go out to work.

"I began serving as group head in 2003, and I am also a Communist Party member. If the people never get to live a prosperous life, I would feel terribly indebted in my heart!" Jiang Xianqing said. For more than 10 years, he and the villagers' representatives have tried almost every means and continuously explored the path out of poverty to prosperity.

In order to find industries suited to local development, Jiang Xianqing repeatedly sought out county experts for discussion and verification, and also organized villagers' representatives to go out to visit, study and learn from others' experience. Starting in 2011, Jiang Xianqing and the villagers decided to develop high-quality walnuts and rhubarb medicinal herbs on a large scale, raise pigs and goats, and take the path of developing distinctive industries.

He Dengqiang, a 42-year-old villager in Group 3, said he has now developed 15 mu of walnuts, of which 2 mu are already in production, and this single item is expected to bring in more than 2,000 yuan this year. "Group 3 villager Wen Xiangzhong now earns about 10,000 yuan a year by raising goats." He said, "To help villagers smoothly develop the breeding industry, Jiang Xianqing also often takes the initiative to explain feeding and epidemic prevention techniques to breeding households."

He Dengqiang said that by last year, Jiang Xianqing had led the villagers of Group 3 in newly developing 300 mu of high-quality walnuts, planting 15 mu of rhubarb, developing 25 mu of konjac, and developing 9 large yellow goat breeding households and 8 large pig breeding households. Last year, the group's villagers achieved a per capita net income of 7,600 yuan.

"In front of my family, I am the pillar and cannot fall; in front of the people of Group 3, I am the 'lead goat' and even more so cannot fall!" Jiang Xianqing said. "Group 3 this year has 4 households with 16 people included in the county's targeted poverty alleviation assistance. We strive for each household to raise more than 30 goats, with an average annual sale of about 20 per household; within the year, the whole group's per capita net income is expected to increase by more than 2,000 yuan!"