The Chili King is obsessed with innovation, and even farming can be glamorous
Showing off the chilies he developed, Zhang Jianguo is very proud
"Come quick and look, these chilies are growing so beautifully, just like flowers!" "This side is even better - chilies planted in flower pots, this is the first time I've ever seen that!" On October 27, at the 4th China (Shanxi) Special Agricultural Products Trade Expo, a chili booth in the Shuozhou City exhibition area drew many local residents to come forward and look.
Some of these chilies are long and strip-shaped, some are round, and some look like blooming flowers. Besides the common red and green colors, there are also yellow ones. Each one is glossy and pretty, delicate and lovely, with a unique charm. "Can they be eaten?" someone asked doubtfully. "Yes, of course!" a middle-aged man answered with a chuckle. These chilies have thick flesh, thin skin and fragrant seeds, and they all taste quite good. Potted chilies can also be taken home and grown - they can be enjoyed for their looks and eaten too. "Water them when the soil dries out, and they can keep flowering and bearing fruit. That way, your home can have fresh chilies to eat all year round! As long as you take careful care of them, they are guaranteed to last at least 3 years," Zhang Jianguo said confidently.
The middle-aged man speaking was named Zhang Jianguo, a villager from Shangshalenghe Village, Shalenghe Township, Shuocheng District, Shuozhou City. At 54 years old, plainly dressed with a lean face, he was the developer of these unusual chilies. Speaking of it, Zhang Jianguo is a local celebrity. Whenever chilies are mentioned, the first person everyone thinks of is definitely "Old Zhang." In everyone's eyes, he is simply the "Chili King."
No one quite knows why, but Zhang Jianguo, born into an ordinary farming family, had a natural passion for the land from birth. When he was young, he served in the military, specifically in charge of logistics production. He dealt with the land all day long, responsible for agricultural and sideline production. After 17 years, he retired and transferred back to his local area. He could originally have been assigned to a good work unit and become a salaried worker with a stable income, but he refused. He said he simply liked farming and found it very interesting. "When I was in the military, we often did technical training, so I learned some planting techniques. After returning to the village, I felt these things should not be wasted, so I thought about researching something. Because chilies are highly adaptable, I began doing research," Zhang Jianguo said. When he returned to the village in 1997, very few people in the village grew chilies. Most people made a living by growing corn, but compared with chilies, corn did not sell very well on the market. So he bought the first batch of seeds from a seed shop and took the lead in converting all 40 mu of his family's land to growing chilies.
In order to grow his chilies well, Zhang Jianguo spent all his time in the greenhouse doing research. Sowing, watering, fertilizing - the growth condition of every single chili plant was always recorded in his mind. That year, his family had a good harvest, which made many villagers look at him with new respect, and gradually some people began to follow him and switch to growing chilies.
However, Zhang Jianguo, who loved to study things deeply, wanted not only yield but also quality. In order to further improve the quality of the chilies, he ate and slept in the greenhouse day and night, single-mindedly researching chili cultivation. He almost never went to sleep before 3 a.m. every day, and throughout the year, apart from the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, he hardly ever went home. The villagers sighed that Old Zhang really had tremendous spirit, and that this kind of hardship was not something ordinary people could endure. With this spirit, Old Zhang finally achieved great results. Seasoning chilies, horn peppers, potted chilies... all kinds of novel chilies were finally successfully developed.
Zhang Jianguo said that even farming should be done with a method. Since he grew chilies, he wanted everyone's lives to flourish too. So every year during the slack farming season, he would also organize free technical training for growers and nearby villagers. Every training session was always packed, and everyone wanted to hear "Old Zhang" speak. Gradually, Old Zhang's reputation grew larger and larger. People from more than ten villages in the surrounding townships, and even people from Northeast China across the provinces, came to learn from him and study chili-growing techniques.
In 2014, the "Yanfeng Chili No. 8 and No. 9" that he developed were recognized by the relevant departments for the first time and promoted. His chili planting area also expanded from 40 mu to 300 mu. With government support, he established an agricultural cooperative responsible for chili breeding, production and operation. Over the years, he has been invited many times to various exhibitions inside and outside the province, and even some well-known agricultural professors have exchanged ideas with him.
Today, he is already the chairman of a cooperative with 4.8 million yuan in intangible assets. Although a group of employees learn from him and help share the farm work, in many cases he still does everything himself, guarding the chili fields day and night. He said that the achievements he has today were made one step at a time, so one must truly put in the effort. If you fool the land, the land will certainly fool your belly. "As long as I can move, I will definitely keep going!" Zhang Jianguo said. His main work now is still chili breeding and research and development. In the future, he wants to research deep processing of chilies, turn it into an industry, develop all kinds of chili products, promote his chilies, and let more people taste the results of his research and development.