On the path of black grape cultivation, a female college graduate returns home to start a business and never gives up
Original title: Female college graduate quits job to return home and 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, but in Hongba Village, Tianjia Town, Dongxing District, Neijiang, there is a college graduate who chose to return home to start a business as 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 home to grow black grapes
Han Juan is a post-80s girl. Before choosing to return home 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, had many opportunities and development prospects, Han Juan was inspired. After that, she thought about transplanting the "sightseeing and picking garden" 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 was approved by her family. 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; she encountered a flood disaster and dozens of tons of grapes were damaged
After Han Juan returned home to start her business, the process was not smooth sailing. Han Juan said that at the beginning of her business, many local villagers questioned her approach one after another: "A girl not settling down to work in the city, but running to the countryside to grow grapes?" At the same time, having grown up in town since childhood and never having done manual labor, Han Juan had never lived a rural life at all, and knew even less about grape cultivation. The many difficulties and hardships made her entrepreneurial path anything but smooth.
By 2012, the grapes Han Juan planted bore fruit for the first time. Looking at the grapes ripening day by day on the branches, Han Juan thought that her efforts had finally paid off, and the villagers' doubts had decreased a lot. But misfortune comes unexpectedly. Just when the grapes were ripe and ready to be picked, the "7.21" catastrophic flood, the likes of which had not been seen in decades, ravaged the entire Tianjia Town. Han Juan's vineyard was not spared 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, however, at this time some financial institutions extended a helping hand to her, providing her with a sizable line of credit loans, which helped her get through the immediate crisis and begin a new round of planting plans.
>>>She did not give up and continued to move forward, leading farmers to establish a professional cooperative
What is harder than difficulties is not being able to start over, and this time Han Juan was even more proactive. She decided to personally take part in every stage of planting, and in the process she also mastered professional knowledge and technical skills in grape cultivation. 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 flood disasters in total and went through hardships; but she persevered through them all. From "going it alone" at the very beginning to now, she has led surrounding farmers to establish a professional cooperative. The local villagers questioned her less and less, and her efforts were even more recognized. The cooperative's members have grown from just a few households at the beginning to more than 60 households now.
"Besides persistence, entrepreneurship also requires integrity and gratitude," Han Juan said. Although she went through hardships in the process of starting her business, Han Juan did not put the grapes soaked by floodwater into the market, and she always kept in mind the private loans she owed due to the disaster. As soon as the vineyard began to turn around, she immediately raised money to pay them off in full. In the process of starting her business, she took the initiative to fulfill her promises and repay society with gratitude.
"Joy and sorrow together make life; bitterness and sweetness together make living," Han Juan said. She is an ordinary female college graduate. Facing the 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 in the process, and in the process you will unknowingly grow up." (Reporter Long Yan)