Business administration returnee gives up inheriting the family business to become an agricultural expert

Chen Jiansheng (left) studied business administration, but now he is already half an "agricultural expert"

According to Chen Jiansheng's plan, the farm will keep some areas for grazing cattle and sheep

In Tianxin Village, Huaide Community, Humen Town, about 200 mu of natural farmland will soon undergo a "gorgeous transformation," giving birth to a brand-new farm and welcoming a new owner.

The farm owner, Chen Jiansheng, is a "returnee" who studied in Canada. After returning to China, he gave up inheriting the family business. Having a farm of his own has been his dream for many years. "If my parents hadn't wanted me to return to China, I would have stayed in Canada to work on a farm. Now I want to move a Canadian farm to Humen."

[Staying true to the original aspiration]

The best childhood memories come from the fields

Chen Jiansheng, a native of Humen, Dongguan, was born in 1979. Chen Jiansheng was among the earliest group of local people in Humen Town to study abroad. He has a family business and also his own company, so why is he so devoted to farms? For Chen Jiansheng, perhaps it is a kind of emotional complex. "Although my family never farmed, my best and clearest childhood memories were the bits and pieces of stealing vegetables, catching fish, and picking fruit in the countryside. That was also a very important part of my childhood memories," Chen Jiansheng said. He said that since childhood he has loved going to the fields to play, and what children in the city lack most now is exactly this kind of experience.

After graduating from high school, Chen Jiansheng soon went to Canada to study. During more than three years in Canada, local farms were an indispensable part of Chen Jiansheng's life. "At that time, we often drove out ourselves to visit farms and rural estates. We could pick fruit with our own hands and also stay on the farm for a vacation," Chen Jiansheng said. During his study abroad, he enjoyed this life very much, and he once planned to stay there to start a business. But because of his parents, he had to return to China, temporarily suspending his "farm dream."

After returning to China, Chen Jiansheng first stayed for half a year in the restaurant opened by his parents. He thought that was not the life he wanted and that he could not "enjoy life" through work. Chen Jiansheng still always held on to his "farm dream." He said he himself was originally a person who "enjoys life."

[A different choice]

A business administration "returnee" becomes an "agricultural expert"

The 200 mu of farmland in Tianxin Village has for many years been divided into several plots and rented to outsiders for growing vegetables. Each household "acts on its own," planting and picking vegetables. This place is far from the noisy industrial zone, without the oppressive feeling of towering high-rises, and what comes into view is the vast pastoral scenery. For Humen Town, with its developed manufacturing industry, it is rare to have such a vibrant "hidden paradise" tucked away here.

Chen Jiansheng, who has had a "farm dream" since childhood, took a fancy to this place. He wanted to lease it and let the vegetable plots undergo a "gorgeous transformation," upgrading them into a beautiful farm. In recent months, he has devoted all his energy to this 200 mu of vegetable land.

"Now we are waiting for the remaining few vegetable farmers to finish harvesting, and then this vegetable land can all be plowed and redeveloped," Chen Jiansheng said. Recently, he often comes to the site to check construction progress and has gotten much tanner. His mother cannot bear to see him like this. Of the 200 mu of vegetable land, more than half has already been leveled. Excavators and soil-turning machines are constantly digging and turning the soil. Not far away, on a large stretch of idle grassland, herds of cattle are grazing. Chen Jiansheng studied business administration in university, but now he is practically half an "agricultural expert." "This black soil turned up is very fertile and suitable for growing vegetables; soil of this color won't do..." Although he has never done farm work or studied agriculture as a major, in order to be a good "farm owner," he has clearly already made preparations.

[A different vision]

Bringing overseas experience to Dongguan

Chen Jiansheng's "farm dream" quickly gained support from the Dongguan Returned Overseas Chinese Federation's Association of Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, and the farm is expected to open to the public in another two or three months.

"When people pursue health, the first thing is to eat healthily," Chen Jiansheng said. Now more and more urban residents are happy to go to the countryside to breathe fresh air and eat organic vegetables, which reflects people's pursuit of health. He wants his farm to bring this health to urban residents.

Chen Jiansheng had previously inspected many farms in other places, but he felt those farms lacked something. Some simply enclosed a large area of farmland and vegetable plots and grew some simple vegetables; others had too strong a commercial atmosphere and ignored health and environmental protection. In his view, the most important thing is that a farm can grow healthy vegetables and fruits and allow people to experience the joy of pastoral life. Therefore, he wants his farm to have more environmentally friendly and healthy experiential elements.

"The future farm will still have a stretch of grassland. Because only with grassland, cattle, and sheep is it a real farm," Chen Jiansheng said. He hopes his farm will also be like those abroad, providing people with healthy vegetables through environmentally friendly farming and bringing joy. "People yearn for overseas farms, so I will bring the farms of Australia and Canada back, so that people from outside can come to Tianxin Village, plant vegetables and raise livestock with their own hands, experience pastoral life together with family and friends, and feel a pastoral world that is out of the ordinary."

Chen Jiansheng's farm blueprint is: cattle and sheep grazing on natural grassland, leisure fishing in fish ponds, farming experiences in orchards and vegetable gardens... The farm will also add entertainment facilities in the later stage and build a cultural and creative park, so that friends who come here can not only directly eat healthy and environmentally friendly vegetables and fruits, but also learn popular science knowledge.