Post-80s man quits his job and returns to his hometown to raise donkeys in an unconventional way, leading his fellow villagers to prosperity together

After quitting his job at a foreign company in Xi'an, three years ago, Diao Long resolutely returned to his rural hometown in Sanyuan and started raising donkeys.

Recently, braving the bitter cold, the reporter met the protagonist Diao Long at the "Sanmu Guanzhong Donkey Farm" in Wujia Village, Sanyuan County. Diao Long, with his scholarly air, speaks in a refined and gentle manner, making it hard for anyone to associate him with raising donkeys.

Diao Long, born in 1987, graduated from Xi'an International University in 2009 with a major in logistics management, then worked as an operations supervisor at a foreign company in Xi'an with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan. By a chance encounter, he discovered that the donkey meat served in a restaurant was all shipped from Hebei, and this sparked his entrepreneurial dream. Through market research, he found that Xi'an's market had a large demand for donkey meat, but the supply was extremely scarce.

So, in early 2012, Diao Long quit his job and returned to his hometown in Sanyuan. By borrowing money from relatives and taking out loans, he quickly built a modern farm with offices, employee dormitories, standardized donkey stables, and a feed room. Afterwards, he purchased more than 140 Guanzhong donkeys in one go from Gansu and Qinghai. At the end of 2013, he also registered a food factory and signed long-term supply contracts with many hotels.

By the end of 2014, Diao Long had paid off all his debts. Currently, the farm has more than 600 donkeys on hand, with an annual slaughter volume of around 1,000 head. As the next step, he will adopt a "farm + farmer households" model to lead his fellow villagers onto the path to prosperity together.