In 1992, I was transferred from the army to work at the Municipal Cultural Bureau in Huzhou. After that, I quit my job and decided to work for myself. I made money by driving rickshaws. I drove taxis. I also ran a factory and a company. In the summer of 2007, I sold my two companies and returned to my hometown that I had left 20 years before, and started farming lake sheep, a kind of sheep raised in Zhejiang Province.

Xiang Jizhong, 50 years old, student of the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary major at the Zhejiang branch of the Open University of China (OUC)


Over the past ten years, I have expanded from one farm to three farms and from 58 sheep to 5,800 sheep, experiencing both joy and sadness along the way. Having chosen agriculture and sheep breeding as my career, I needed more than just motivation and enthusiasm to be successful. Large-scale, specialised lake sheep breeding requires a lot of professional knowledge and expertise, so in 2012, I enrolled to at the OUC to study Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said, "The key to the development of rural economy and society lies with the people."


In spring 2013, a large number of local bamboo shoots went on the market. Fresh bamboo shoot leaves are a high-quality food source for lake sheep. One day, we got a lot of bamboo shoot leaves, more than the sheep could eat. We packed the remaining leaves in a woven bag and stacked them on the ground. The next morning, we fed the sheep the leftover leaves. At around 10 a.m., a worker called me: “One of the sheep is vomiting and having a fit." I didn't pay much attention at first and said, "There are so many sheep on the farm, it is normal for one or two to get sick. No need to panic. " Half an hour later, the worker called me again: "I found two more sheep with the same symptoms." It was then that I started to panic and I drove to the farm in a hurry. On the way, I kept thinking, what should I do? It’s too late to call an expert. However, I then remembered that during the Lake Sheep Breeding Technology course we saw a case involving the symptoms of poisoning in lake sheep. When stored leafy foodstuffs start to ferment, the nitrates they contain are reduced to nitrite, which is poisonous. The sheep with more vigorous vital signs and quicker metabolism showed more obvious symptoms. I immediately called the worker and said "Remove all the remaining bamboo shoot leaves and give each of the sheep that are showing symptoms injections of dexamethasone and atropine." Half an hour later, except for the first three sheep that showed symptoms, ten other sheep were starting to stand up and recover. After an hour, all of them had recovered and started drinking water. At the time, I finally understood the meaning of the saying "Not until one is faced with a practical problem to be solved does he realise how little knowledge he has learned." Knowledge must be accumulated constantly day by day. It is rightly said that "Without small steps, one cannot reach a distance of one thousand miles. Without small creeks, there can be no rivers or oceans."


During my three years of study, my professional knowledge and practical skills have greatly improved. The university’s broad platform has also made great contributions to my career. The certificates and honours displayed on my shelves represent recognition of and praise for f my work. In 2017, I was awarded the title of "Senior Livestock Specialist", a recognition of my ability by the government. Zhejiang province has a reformed title evaluation system, which enabled me, a shepherd, to be fortunate enough to become one of the first group of new professional farmers rated as " Senior Livestock Specialist" in China. A leader of the Department of Agriculture in Zhejiang province said at a public meeting that: "Xiang Jizhong is a new type of professional farmer who writes his papers on the earth." Hearing these words, my eyes shone with tears. All of the bitterness and hardships I have endured turned to happy tears in that moment. As far as I am concerned, the secret to success is learning and perseverance.


As China promotes a strategy of rural revitalisation, I believe that my journey in agriculture will run smoother and that rural areas in general will become more beautiful, China’s agriculture will become stronger, and farmers will become richer. Thanks to the tens of thousands people like me, our rural revitalisation strategy will be realised. (This speech won second prize in the OUC “My Learning Story” speech contest.)
  


By OUC