Quitting Teaching for Farming and Planting Bamboo, Lin Xiuzhen Blazes a Trail to Prosperity

    In Huqiu Town, Anxi County, Fujian, within dozens of li around, almost everyone knows the name of the large-scale forestation grower Lin Xiuzhen.  

The story must begin with the Hunan Hillside Cultivation Team. Originally, this cultivation team was located in the northwest of Jinbang Village, Huqiu Town, with dozens of mu of tea gardens and several hundred mu of mountain land. After 1990, due to the restructuring of the cultivation team and the disbanding of its personnel, the mountain forest was destroyed and the tea gardens were overgrown with weeds. In 1998, Huqiu Town decided to establish a ma bamboo base at the former Hunan Hillside Cultivation Team in Jinbang Village and openly contract it out to the villagers of the whole village, but faced with this broken-down mess, no villager in the whole village dared to take it on.  

Lin Xiuzhen was determined to use this opportunity to develop diversified operations. She resigned from her preschool teaching job and contracted this "rotten mess" from the town and village.  

Faced with several hundred mu of barren mountain land with a contract period of 30 years, to actually clothe it in green and build it into a bamboo forest demonstration base, how could it be easy without a certain amount of capital investment? With her husband's support, after securing part of the start-up funds from higher authorities, Lin Xiuzhen began digging the mountain, digging planting holes, fertilizing, and earthing up the soil. By the end of 1999, more than 100 mu of ma bamboo had been developed and planted, and the base began to take shape. Just as the harvest was approaching, a typhoon strike rarely seen in decades hit, and more than 90% of the ma bamboo was damaged.  

Faced with natural disaster, Lin Xiuzhen was not defeated by the setback. She rallied her forces again and continued on her arduous road of entrepreneurship. A year later, her ma bamboo planting area had expanded to 500 mu. Just as a good harvest seemed within easy reach, who could have expected that she would then encounter a frost rare in a century, and several hundred mu of ma bamboo were completely frozen to death by the frost, with even more serious losses.  

After Huqiu Town and the relevant departments learned of Lin Xiuzhen's deeds, they gave support in terms of funds. Faced with the concern of many leaders, she once again summoned her courage and continued forestation. After several years of effort, Lin Xiuzhen built a ma bamboo base of more than 500 mu.