The Pheasant King Huang Wei: A Farming Story from Hongjiang Village, Mengcun Township, Xingbin District
Comrade Huang Wei of the Hongjiang Village Committee, Mengcun Township, Xingbin District, raises chickens "differently" from others. While everyone else keeps them confined at home or nearby, he "goes far to seek what is near," running several kilometers away to the mountain forest he contracted to raise them free-range. It is precisely this unconventional "odd" chicken-raising method that has made his chickens highly favored by companies, bosses and local people, achieving excellent results and making him a widely known expert at getting rich. Huang Wei, who built his fortune by raising "pheasants," is jokingly called the "Pheasant King" by the local people.
In July 2008, Huang Wei, who had returned from working elsewhere, decided to start his own business. After careful investigation, he found that although many people raised chickens, they were only doing it on a small scale, without forming any scale or distinctive features. Therefore, raising chickens on a large scale with distinctive features would surely have great "money prospects." How could he raise distinctive chickens? After careful analysis and investigation, he found that traditional chicken raising was all done in confinement at home or nearby. So he decided to break with convention and go to the mountain forest he had contracted four or five kilometers from the village to raise them free-range. This "different" chicken-raising method of his met with opposition from his family and ridicule from the villagers, who all said Huang Wei was hot-headed and had his head in the clouds. Facing the lack of understanding from his family and the villagers, Huang Wei did not waver at all, firmly believing that his distinctive chicken raising was sure to have great prospects. Using the money he had earned from working and loans, he recruited 12 returning young people, bought breeding chickens and got to work in the mountains. A few months later, Huang Wei's first batch of 50,000 free-range "pheasants" was ready for market. After an on-site inspection, Chunmao Company found that chickens raised free-range in the mountain forest, because they were constantly moving about, were less prone to illness, grew quickly, and had firm, elastic, delicious meat. Therefore, the company bought them all back.
According to statistics, up to now, Huang Wei's "pheasants" have been marketed in 6 batches totaling more than 100,000 birds, with profits of nearly 200,000 yuan.