Female college graduate quits her job and returns to her hometown to grow grapes, writing her youth and interpreting life through hard work
Han Juan
The grapes grown by Han Juan
Han Juan under the grape trellis she planted herself
In recent years, "entrepreneurship" has become an increasingly familiar term, and more and more college students are choosing to start their own businesses: opening clothing stores, doing online purchasing agents, starting advertising companies... Projects emerge one after another. Yet in Hongba Village, Tianjia Town, Dongxing District, Neijiang, there is a college graduate who returned to her hometown to start a business and chose to become a "farmer." She is Han Juan, a college graduate from Yongdong Township, Dongxing District, Neijiang, who returned home to start a business.
Inspired by policy, a post-80s girl quits her job and returns to her hometown to grow black grapes
Han Juan is a post-80s girl. Before choosing to return to her hometown to start a business, she worked in Chongqing and had a stable job. In 2011, when she heard that the Neijiang government encouraged young people to start their own businesses and provided relevant policy support, and that agricultural projects, as a target of strong government support, offered many opportunities and development prospects, Han Juan was inspired. After that, she thought about transplanting the "sightseeing-picking orchard" model she had seen in Chongqing to Neijiang.
Han Juan said that her initial idea of quitting her job and going home to grow grapes won her family's approval. With her family's support, she quit her job in Chongqing and returned to Neijiang, contracting 150 mu of land in Hongba Village, Tianjia Town, Neijiang, and began growing black grapes.
The entrepreneurial path was not smooth sailing; a flood disaster damaged dozens of tons of grapes
After Han Juan returned to her hometown to start her business, the process was not smooth sailing. Han Juan said that at the beginning of her entrepreneurship, many local villagers questioned her approach: "A girl who doesn't settle down and work properly in the city, what grapes is she growing in the countryside?" At the same time, having grown up in a town since childhood and never having done manual labor, Han Juan had never lived a rural life at all, and knew nothing about grape cultivation. Numerous difficulties and hardships made her entrepreneurial path far from smooth.
By 2012, the grapes Han Juan had planted bore fruit for the first time. Looking at the grapes ripening day by day on the vines, Han Juan thought her efforts had finally paid off, and the villagers' doubts decreased a lot. But unforeseen circumstances arise: just when the grapes were ripe and ready to be picked, the "7.21" catastrophic flood, the worst in decades, ravaged the entire Tianjia Town. Han Juan's vineyard did not escape either. Dozens of tons of grapes were washed away by the flood overnight, and the losses were almost total. More than a year of hard work was destroyed in an instant, and coupled with difficulties in cash flow, Han Juan wanted to give up. Fortunately, at this time, some financial institutions extended a helping hand to her, providing her with a sizable credit loan, which helped her get through the immediate crisis and begin a new round of planting plans.
Without giving up, she kept moving forward and led farmers to establish a professional cooperative
What is harder than difficulty is being unable to start over, but this time Han Juan was even more proactive. She decided to personally take part in every stage of cultivation, and in the process she mastered professional knowledge and techniques of grape growing. In 2013, in another grape-ripening season, Han Juan's vineyard had a smooth harvest. Over the 5 years of development, Han Juan's vineyard suffered two floods and endured hardships; but she weathered them all. From "going it alone" at the beginning to now, she has led surrounding farmers to establish a professional cooperative. Local villagers questioned her less and less, and her efforts won recognition. The cooperative's members have grown from just a few households at the beginning to more than 60 households now.
"Entrepreneurship requires not only persistence, but also integrity and gratitude," Han Juan said. Although she went through hardships in the process of starting her business, Han Juan did not put flood-soaked grapes on the market, and she always kept in mind the private loans she owed because of the disaster. As soon as the vineyard showed signs of recovery, she immediately raised money to pay them off in full. In the process of entrepreneurship, she took the initiative to fulfill her promises and give back to society with gratitude.
"Joy and sorrow together make a life; bitterness and sweetness together make living," Han Juan said. She is an ordinary female college graduate. Facing difficulties and hardships in life, she always faces them with a smile: "Perhaps life is like this. Face life with a smile, face the sweetness and bitterness along the way, and in the process you will unknowingly grow up."