Rural entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation need young people, says college-student cowherd He Gen

He Gen (left) helps a poor household select young yellow cattle (photo taken November 20).

Leading 3 young yellow cattle along a mountain road at an altitude of 600 m, though the weather was somewhat cold and overcast, Zhang Guangming felt warm inside: "Without spending a single cent, I can borrow a few head of cattle to raise at home, then return the cattle to this young man next year, and earn several thousand yuan a year. Where else could you find such a good deal?"

The 52-year-old Zhang Guangming lives in Zhangjiashan Village, Luotian, Hubei, deep in the Dabie Mountains. He has no children and has never left the mountains in his life, depending on his wife and his mother in her 80s. Not long ago, when the village verified its poor population, the villagers unanimously agreed that his family was the poorest.

Zhang Guangming did the math for the reporter: borrow three young yellow cattle about one year old, spend not a single cent, lead them home and raise them himself; after one year, the young yellow cattle can be sent to market, then return the yellow cattle; whatever weight the yellow cattle gain in a year is how much he earns.

Who is "this young man"? He is He Gen, known as a "post-90s college-student cowherd."

In June 2011, He Gen, who had been exceptionally retained to teach at Wuhan Software Engineering Vocational College, made a startling decision: return to his hometown of Fuzhongdi Village, Bailianhe Township, Luotian County, Hubei, to raise cattle.

That year he was 21 years old.

He had herded cattle on the mountain since childhood, and after finishing college he came back to herd cattle again. His father once fell out with He Gen over this, but he did not change his decision because of it. He Gen said: "The biggest difficulty in rural entrepreneurship is not capital, not projects, not government policy support, but that rural areas have no young people!"

In November of that year, He Gen tried raising 14 yellow cattle. To ensure the quality of the beef, He Gen insisted on not using additives to feed the cattle, but instead letting them eat the natural forage of the Dabie Mountains. At the start of his business, before dawn every day, He Gen got up and ran alone to the river to cut cattle grass. His hands developed blood blisters and grew calluses, and his arms and legs were covered with blood marks from cuts by the grass.

No matter how hard entrepreneurship was, He Gen's determination to raise "Dabie Mountain yellow cattle" never changed. In just over a year, his business developed greatly. Driven by He Gen, some villagers who had worked elsewhere also returned to the village to raise cattle. In April 2012, He Gen established the "Minsheng Cattle Raising Professional Cooperative." By 2015, his cooperative had 117 member households and sent more than 2,700 head of yellow cattle to market in a year. He Gen also opened stores to sell his own beef, and his beef brand is named "He Gen." At present, he has opened 5 stores in nearby Huanggang urban area.

He Gen says he is destined by fate to belong to the countryside. In his eyes, besides clear waters and green mountains, the countryside also has broad space for development. At present, He Gen has transferred more than 2,200 mu of mountain forest to create a natural pasture. His dream is to establish a "Dabie Mountain yellow cattle" breeding base and make a series of deep-processed cattle-related products.

On November 21, more than 30 villagers "borrowed cattle" together with Zhang Guangming, all of them poor households in Zhangjiashan Village. "Hearing that they could borrow cattle to raise at home, the village's poor households were all willing to take part. I think that when capable people like He Gen lead poor households out of poverty, poverty alleviation work can go further," said Yang Hong, head of the poverty alleviation work team in Zhangjiashan Village. "The whole village has 400 households, 125 of which are poor households. I believe that under He Gen's leadership, there is hope for poverty alleviation in three years."

He put down the university teaching pointer, returned to his hometown and took up the cattle whip, leading villagers to get rich together. Wu Tianxiang, a national moral model approaching 70, visited He Gen in the Dabie Mountains 8 times.

"Old Wu always encouraged me, saying the countryside has great prospects, but it cannot rely on grandpas and grandmas; it needs more young people. Today, seeing the happy look on the villagers' faces as they led the cattle, it strengthened my confidence even more. Rural entrepreneurship needs young people, and rural poverty alleviation needs young people even more!"