The Fish Farming King Liu Yuangui's Fish Farming Story

    In Gaolouping Township, Wanshan Special District, there is an ordinary farmer who, relying on his own indomitable will and hardworking hands, and with the support of rural industrial restructuring, lifted himself out of years of poverty, and actively helped the farmers on this land develop fisheries, taking the path of common prosperity, becoming a "warm-hearted person" widely recognized by the farmers of Wanshan Special District. 

This ordinary farmer is Liu Yuangui of Yelang Village, Gaolouping Dong Ethnic Township, Wanshan Special District. He is now 55 years old and became a member of the Communist Party of China in April 2003. 

Today's Liu Yuangui can truly be called a veritable "Fish Farming King." Party members, officials, and ordinary people throughout the district, as well as guests who come to eat "farmhouse meals," all praise him on sight, calling him "Boss Liu." From an ordinary mountain farmer, he has become a new-type farmer engaged in three-dimensional comprehensive development of the fish farming industry, with an annual income of over 100,000 yuan and fixed assets of more than 300,000 yuan. Whenever someone asks him how much money he has made, he always says meaningfully: "A total of 44,000: to borrow money to start fish farming, I exhausted thousands of words; to explore a path for development, I traveled thousands of mountains and rivers; to establish the 'Yujiale' leisure center, I endured countless hardships; to help more people escape poverty and get rich through fish farming, I visited thousands of households."

In 1981, Liu Yuangui contracted 15 mu of rice paddies to grow grain. Through intensive cultivation, after keeping enough grain for his family for a year, he delivered more than 10,000 kg of rice to the state that year, and was named a "Major Grain Seller" by Wanshan Special District and Tongren Prefecture respectively. Having solved the problem of food and clothing, Liu Yuangui was not content with the status quo. In 1985, he abandoned farming to go into business elsewhere, going to Shaoyang, Hunan, to open a noodle shop, but due to various reasons, he lost everything and could not keep it going. One day, he visited a local household as a guest. The host's meal was already cooked, and within moments, the host scooped a few fish from the nearby rice paddy to make a dish. At that moment, Liu Yuangui thought: Hunan people can raise fish, so why can't I? And so, in 1986, Liu Yuangui returned to the hometown that had raised him, carrying the regret of business failure and the confidence to try rice paddy fish farming, and began his extraordinary fish farming journey. At first, he invested 20,000 yuan, raised 2 mu of rice paddies into fish ponds, and used 3 mu of rice paddies as pilot fields for fish farming. In the spring of the following year, he tentatively purchased more than 8,000 fry and released them there. But the problem before him was: more than 8,000 fish mouths all needed to eat every day, so what was he to do? Liu Yuangui told this writer: "The economy was really difficult at the time. I had no money to buy fish feed, so I went to the latrines in Wanshan and Gaolouping Township to carry night soil. It saved money, fertilized the fields, and fed the fish. It was the only way out." This trick indeed worked. That year, fish farming alone brought in more than 8,000 yuan, and he was named an advanced individual in fish farming by the Tongren Prefecture Aquatic Products Bureau. 

The success of his first attempt filled Liu Yuangui with even more confidence in fish farming. He decided to first master solid aquaculture skills. He attended fish farming training courses held by the prefecture and the special district many times, subscribed long-term to professional magazines such as China Fisheries, and bought professional books on fish farming, initially mastering aquaculture techniques such as pH value, oxygen content, eutrophic and oligotrophic conditions, water temperature for fish farming, and fish disease prevention and treatment. To quickly integrate book knowledge into practice, he took the lead in developing three-dimensional aquaculture, building nearly 7 mu of his own rice paddies into eight standard fish ponds including broodstock ponds, spawning and hatching ponds, adult fish ponds, and nursery ponds, and bred nearly 100,000 fry. Because the primitive method of peddling could not open up sales channels, he lost nearly 20,000 yuan that year. In response, he placed information about his fry in news media such as the Tongren Daily and Guizhou Daily, becoming the first farmer in Wanshan Special District to advertise fish fry. Customers from Tongren City, Yuping County, Xinhuang County, Guiyang City, and other places came one after another to order fry. "Hard work pays off." Liu Yuangui's fish farming finally "hit its lucky streak." That year his income reached more than 60,000 yuan, and he was hailed as the "Fish Farming King." At the same time, relying on the advantage of the mysterious "Yelang Valley Rafting," he developed his hard-earned fish farm into a garden-style "Yujiale" leisure center integrating fish farming, entertainment, angling, and training. Around the fish ponds he planted many exotic flowers and rare plants, which bloomed in brilliant colors throughout the four seasons. On trellises he raised chickens and ducks, and grew melons and beans, presenting a full farmhouse scene. He also invested 50,000 yuan to build a pavilion between the pondside and the tourist road, making it convenient for visitors to relax. Swimming in the river, angling by the pond, and enjoying the scenery from the pavilion were full of charm. On weekends, Party members, officials, and tourists from surrounding counties and cities such as Tongren and Xinhuang, as well as from the Wanshan urban area, came in an endless stream to fish, travel, and eat "farmhouse meals." From "farmhouse meals" alone, the annual income could reach about 10,000 yuan. 

Through educational activities, the important thought of the "Three Represents," the spirit of the 16th National Congress of the Party, specific requirements for maintaining progressiveness, and new rural construction gave him a deep understanding of the important meaning of new rural construction. Facing a business with an annual income of more than 100,000 yuan, he always upheld the awareness that the fish farming base should serve farmers, serve agricultural development, and serve new rural construction. "Better to teach a person a skill than to give them a thousand pieces of gold." "One person being rich does not count as being rich; only when everyone is rich is it truly being rich." In order to spread aquaculture techniques to thousands of households, based on his own practical experience, he regularly and irregularly gave lectures to villagers, teaching aquaculture techniques and providing high-quality fry at discounted prices, helping poor households fundamentally escape poverty and become prosperous. Over 15 years, he traveled successively to Guiyang, Zhenyuan, Yuping, Xinhuang, and the four townships and one town of Wanshan Special District, teaching fish farming techniques more than 300 times, holding 98 technical lectures, training more than 1,600 technical personnel, and providing more than 900,000 fry free of charge to poor fish farming households in the four townships and one town. The number of households linked through fish farming grew from more than 700 to more than 1,200, of which more than 350 had already achieved good economic benefits, escaped poverty, and became "leading geese" in escaping poverty and becoming prosperous. The prefecture science and technology bureau confirmed his fish farm as the "Tongren Wanshan Aquaculture Science and Technology Training Base," and the Wanshan Science and Technology Association also designated it as the "Wanshan Fish Farming Base." He was once named an "Excellent Aquatic Technology Instructor" by the special district government and the prefecture aquatic products bureau, and the Wanshan Special District government awarded him the honorable titles of "Wealth-Building Expert" and "Science and Technology Able Person."