Li Wuyou Leads Villagers in Planting Fruit Trees and Getting Rich Together

In Guanghui Village, Jianshe Township, Mabian Yi Autonomous County, when people mention Li Wuyou, there is probably no one in the surrounding villages who does not know him. Many villagers have received his help and thus found their way to prosperity.

Li Wuyou is actually a disabled person. Yet this is a man with a disabled body but a strong will, who in adversity relied on his own diligence and wisdom to escape poverty and become wealthy by growing fruit trees, and with a heart full of great love, he takes pleasure in helping others, assisting more of the surrounding poor villagers and disabled people to escape poverty and become wealthy.

Growing Fruit Trees to Make a Fortune

On October 27, following the rugged mountain road, our reporter and companions arrived at Li Wuyou's home.

Entering the courtyard, the cement yard and the brick-and-wood house appeared clean and tidy; stepping inside, sofas, a coffee table, a television and everything else were all present, and his daughter, son-in-law, wife and the whole family were enjoying themselves happily together.

If we turn back the clock 47 years, Li Wuyou's home was a completely different scene.

According to Li Wuyou, when he was just over a month old, for some unknown reason his entire right arm could not move; his parents sought medical help everywhere, but his condition never improved, and he was ultimately left disabled. The reporter observed that compared with an ordinary person's arm, Li Wuyou's right arm is noticeably thin, with atrophied muscles and a twisted, deformed wrist. "It can't move on its own, and I can't use any strength with it; all the work depends on my left hand," Li Wuyou told the reporter.

It was with his left hand and a sound mind that Li Wuyou completed his junior high school education, and later he dropped out of school because his family was poor. During these years, although he had the strong will not to yield to fate, because he ultimately could not find a path suited to himself, the poverty of Li Wuyou and his family never saw any real improvement.

The turning point came in 2002. That year, on the recommendation of the Mabian Disabled Persons' Federation and the Association for Science and Technology, Li Wuyou began growing Golden Pear. Li Wuyou told the reporter that he planted more than 2 mu that year. After they survived, the trees bloomed and bore pears the following year, and results were seen. This made him both thrilled and excited.

Although he had only a junior high school education, Li Wuyou deeply understood the importance of scientific planting. For this reason, in addition to earnestly seeking advice from relevant experts such as those at the county Agriculture Bureau, he also spent his own money to buy agricultural technical books such as "High-Yield Pear Cultivation" and "Rural Universal Guide," learning while doing. Through diligent study and practice, Li Wuyou gradually mastered techniques for pear seedling raising, grafting, and cultivation.

As his planting techniques improved, Li Wuyou's pear varieties increased and his scale expanded, and at the same time he also developed the planting of high-quality loquat, walnut and tea. "By leasing barren hills, I have now developed more than 50 mu of pear trees, more than 10 mu of walnut, nearly 20 mu of loquat, and interplanted more than 10 mu of tea bushes," Li Wuyou introduced.

Excellent varieties, scientific management and protection, plus good marketing, made the fruit produced by Li Wuyou widely welcomed. Good economic returns also made Li Wuyou's life better and better.

Giving Back to Fellow Villagers to Get Rich Together

When drinking the water, do not forget those who dug the well. "For so many years, departments such as the county Disabled Persons' Federation have helped me financially, supported me technically, and also organized outings for visits and study and distributed fruit seedlings free of charge, which moved me deeply." Li Wuyou, who knows how to be grateful, decided to expand this care given by the organizations and help the disabled people and poor people around him who were like himself to escape poverty and become wealthy.

In 2008, under the guidance of relevant departments such as the county Agriculture Bureau, Li Wuyou successively established the Mabian Jianshe Township Wuyou High-Quality Fruit and Seedling Association and the Wuyou Fruit Professional Cooperative, developed more than 40 members and cooperative members from among disabled people and poor people, leased 500 mu of barren hills, and distributed high-quality pear, walnut and tea seedlings to them free of charge, so they could become wealthy through scientific planting.

In order to let everyone make full use of the good ecological environment to develop the tea industry, in 2011 Li Wuyou gave away free of charge to the surrounding disabled people and poor villagers the 300,000 tea seedlings for 100 mu that he had received from the Mabian County Agriculture Bureau, together with 12 tons of organic fertilizer that he had purchased himself.

In order to improve fruit quality, Li Wuyou specially organized and established a "Disabled Persons' Fruit Tree Grafting Service Team," teaching fruit tree grafting techniques to everyone free of charge, hand by hand, serving the villagers and increasing incomes to become wealthy.

After 7 years of development, today Li Wuyou's fruit and seedling association has developed more than 100 members, and the fruit professional cooperative has developed more than 80 cooperative members, driving more than 200 households of disabled people and poor people in more than 10 villages including Guanghui, Xinmin and Hongguang in the township to escape poverty and become wealthy, making him a veritable "leader in becoming wealthy" in everyone's eyes.

In 2008, the Mabian Yi Autonomous County Wuyou Fruit Tree Planting Base created by Li Wuyou was awarded the honorary title of "Leshan City Advanced Base for Employment and Poverty Alleviation for Disabled Persons" by the Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Municipal Disabled Persons' Federation. In May 2013, Li Wuyou was commended by the Provincial Association for Science and Technology and the Provincial Department of Finance; in April last year, the Wuyou High-Quality Fruit and Seedling Association was commended by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China.