From a peach broker to a small shop owner. From a small restaurant owner to a farm-based agritainment operator. From running alone to bringing together a whole village ...His progress seemed trivial, yet every successful transition embodied the wisdom of an entrepreneur. He has been honored as a "Top Ten Young Entrepreneur, Shunping County", a "Labour Model of Baoding City", a "Youth Leader for Achieving Prosperity in Hebei Province", and a "Labour Model of Hebei Province". In May 2015, he was granted the title of "National Labour Model" by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and participated in the award ceremony held at the Great Hall of the People. He is Zhang Guoqiao, an alumnus of Baoding Radio and Television University (RTVU) and Deputy Party Secretary of the branch of Nantaiyu village, Taiyu Township, Shunping County.
Seizing the Opportunity to Run an Agritainment Business
In 1990, Zhang Guoqiao became a farmer in his hometown after he graduated from high school. The daily hard work and low pay encouraged him to look for opportunities. In 1995, relying on the village’s advantages in peach fruit farming, Zhang Guoqiao started working as a marketing agent, arranging sales of peaches to travelling businessmen on behalf of local farmers. At the same time, he opened a small snack stand at the entrance of the village. When he saw the travelling businessmen purchasing peaches for a whole day without convenient food and drink options,he decided to open a small restaurant to give them somewhere to rest. 2000 marked the first Shunping County Peach Blossom Festival. With 12,000 acres of beautiful peach blossoms, Taiyu Township attracted a large number of tourists. Zhang Guoqiao took this opportunity to move the restaurant to a hill covered with peach flowers outside the village and put up a tent. The restaurant was close to the water but far from the mountain and was the best place to view the peach blossoms. However the tent was too small to accommodate all of the visitors. It was then that Zhang Guoqiao had the idea to start an agritainment business. In 2005, against the wishes of his family and with a lack of funding, he contracted the hill, where he built the Peach Blossom View Villa and Flower Observation Deck with an area of less than 200 square meters. By making full use of the geographical advantage and the fruit resources, he created a countryside home in the mountain. With a target of new countryside, new tourism, new experience, and new fashion", he provided farmhouse meals, barbecues, and fruit picking. Over years of constant input, the investment for the Peach Blossom View Villa now exceeds RMB 2.2 million. It covers an area of 6,500 square meters with a construction area of more than 1,800 square meters. The three-kilometer long sightseeing loop line covers an area of 2,000 acres. The restaurant can now host more than 800 people at the same time and the Peach Blossom View Villa has become a key feature of the Shunping County Peach Blossom Festival.
Small Peaches, Big Business
"True wealth comes when everyone shares in the riches. "Zhang Guoqiao didn’t forget his friends and family who were still working hard for very little income.
During the Peach Blossom Festival, Zhang Guoqiao took measures to encourage local people to set up stalls and sell agricultural products to increase revenue. The dried vegetables, free-range eggs, and sweet potatoes used by the Peach Blossom View Villa all came from local people. This has greatly stimulated farmers’ interests in improving family farms, livestock breeding, and expanding the planting area of vegetables and cereals. He also funded the surrounding farmers with the construction of a farm courtyard to increase reception capacity during the Peach Blossom Festival so that each household could benefit. After several years of effort, a large number of local citizens participated in tourism services during the Peach Blossom Festival. Now, people can enjoy spring flowers, as well as summer recreation and summer-autumn fruit/vegetable picking.
However, the Peach Blossom Festival alone was not enough to make the people rich. Zhang Guoqiao started to focus on the fresh peach fruit, aiming higher and further.
In 2007, when the Peach Blossom Festival had just finished, Zhang Guoqiao went on a two-month research trip to Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and other places, all at his own expense. After the investigation, Zhang Guoqiao made a bold decision to establish a peach industry association to improve the quality and grade of peaches in the entire peach producing area. Zhang Guoqiao’s idea was recognized and supported by the Forestry Bureau, the Science and Technology Bureau, and the Association of Science and Technology in the county. After more than a year of preparation, the Taiyu Township Peach Industry Association was established, with more than 100 growers as its first members. With the association as the main body, and relying on Peach Blossom View Villa Ecological Garden Co. Ltd and the farmers, a management model of centralized operation and decentralized production was gradually formed. Zhang signed technical service contracts with the members and provided technical guidance. He would buy all the members’ products and solve their worries. Zhang Guoqiao actively solved problems arising in the production and operation of peaches and participated in the construction of a peach industry demonstration garden under the guideline of "One County, One industry, One Park". He developed field management procedures and implemented pollution-free fruit production, which has dramatically increased peach quality. Meanwhile, Zhang Guoqiao registered the "Hongqiao" trade mark at the State Commerce and Industry Bureau so that the members of the Association could sell high quality fresh peaches to large supermarkets at three to four times the price of other peach brands. To date, the Association covers nearly 10,000 people from more than 1,300 organizations and households from the county and surrounding counties, with an area of 30,000 hectares of forest fruits.
The farmers in the peach industry association have embarked on the road of prosperity with varying degrees of return. Faced with the gratitude and praise of the fellow villagers, Zhang Guoqiao remained sober-minded. Instead of being satisfied with his current position, he gave himself a higher goal: to apply for green fruit certification and carry out green fruit production. To meet the strict standards of the green fruit certification system, Zhang Guoqiao started training members and improving their technological skills. With an investment of RMB 125,000, he established a high quality e-classroom, in which he combined the construction of the online library of the City Science and Technology Association,and added computer rooms to invite experts to train the members.He established an agricultural resources distribution station, introducing strict controls from the source of production,using physical methods as the main technology to control pests.
Zhang Qiao has a rustic and kind heart.When people came to him to become his apprentices, Zhang Guoqiao not only did what he could to instruct and help them, he also went to needy households to help them solve their life difficulties. His association also undertook data recording for the comprehensive experiment station of Shijiazhuang Fruit Tree Research Institute, which is part of the construction of the National peach industry system. He also provided onsite observation records for research of the plant protection station of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences’project of using sex attractants for the control of fruit moths in the province.Zhang Guoqiao carefully measures and takes records on a regular basis.
College Helps Zhang to Fulfill His Dreams
Zhang Guoqiao knew that to maintain a good state of development and to allow his business to continue to develop and grow, he must move with the times, constantly enrich himself, and introduce scientific and systematized management. In spring 2010, he received an opportunity from Baoding RTVU which planned to enroll rural students in the administrative management major, as part of its plan for “One College Student per Village”. After some research, he learned that Baoding RTVU has a lot of advantages, including a unique online platform, learning resources, a systematized education system, and remote services. Baoding RTVU brings education to the door of its students. Learners can select their own learning content and learning method according to their personal situation. Teaching is carried out through online interaction, online counselling, and learning support services. He enrolled in the Shunping Branch of Baoding RTVU without hesitation. When people heard the news, they didn't understand why he was going to study, since his business was booming. However he said: “I am a native farmer. I should not only have a sincere heart and dedication to the job; I also need to expand my cultural knowledge, and grasp science and technology. I should not only lead the masses to achieve material prosperity, but also guide the public to enrich their spiritual life.”This was his motivation to learn.
During the course of his work, he has found it necessary to combine theory and practice. He overcame all kinds of difficulties, making full use of his time to study, insisting on participating in every face-to-face class, taking full advantage of every minute of recess to ask the teacher for help, and discussing professional knowledge relating to the major. In addition, he would ask the instructors for help by e-mail or telephone. Even while on business trips, he would take teaching materials and reference materials with him and complete each of the tasks very carefully. While leading online panel discussions, he would actively interact with the teacher and lead the students to join in the online discussion. Among all the groups in the class, his group was always the first to submit panel discussion results and assignments. Due to his excellent performance, he won a “Field of Hope” scholarships from CCRTVU. He is currently studying in the Administrative Management major under the open education undergraduate programme. He combines the knowledge he gained from the RTVU with scientific methods, in order to lead his people to prosperity.
In an interview with a television station in Baoding Zhang Guoqiao said that through study in the RTVU, he fulfilled his dream of attending college, broadened his horizons, acquired more knowledge, and developed many scientific and effective management and operating practices. His business is booming and his hard work has paid off. He is determined to accept the concept of lifelong education. Through his entrepreneurial achievements he wants to prove that“it’s never too late to learn”.
By Liu Jinlong & Wu Yueying, Baoding RTVU