On 23 May 2022, the 2022 shortlist for "National Model Youths" was announced, with three residents of Zhejiang, including Sheng Wenbin, a student in the 2019 autumn-semester Garden Technology class at Xinchang College of Zhejiang Open University, upon it.

He was born in April 1987, is a member of the Communist Party of China, a senior national tea taster, and chair of the Xinchang County Kenong Tea Specialised Cooperative.

He returned to his hometown after retiring from the army, and took the lead in establishing a tea cooperative to promote the development of the local tea industry, including scientific large-scale planting that has brought wealth to the area. By 2020, 3,000 mu (200 hectares) of tea seedlings were under cultivation, and over 2,000 households have gained a per-capita income increase of 50,000 yuan (about 7,840 US dollars) per mu, with over 200,000 jobs created in the area. In addition, he has contributed to poverty alleviation in 7 contiguous low-income areas across the country, and 126 key national low-income counties, offering free technical training (on planting, management, and tea production), profit sharing, tea-seedling donations, and other forms of assistance. In September 2020, he came first in the first Zhejiang Veterans Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition, and he has been named the first Most Beautiful Tea Craftsman of Xinchang County, first Xinchang Craftsman, and Most Beautiful Veteran of Zhejiang Province.

In 2019, he enrolled in Garden Technology at Xinchang College of Zhejiang Open University, and in 2021 won the National Gold Prize for Vocational Education in the 7th China International Internet-plus College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition for his research and development, cultivation, planting, and sales of tea seedlings. His nursery is connected to the Internet of Things, and a national new-variety cultivation centre has been built. As a student of Zhejiang Open University, Sheng Wenbin has the support of the university for his entrepreneurship.

Sheng Wenbin said: “I will start from here, fulfill my duties, and get motivation to do my job well from the sense of responsibility and mission of Zhejiang youth in the new era. We will coordinate the development of tea culture and the tea industry, and innovate in tea science and technology. We will pursue green development, enhance technological innovation, and intensify our research and development in order to introduce fine varieties. We will focus on building tea-seedling brands and propagation enterprises, provide technology to both young people and veterans interested in agricultural entrepreneurship, and assist in the construction of demonstration areas for common prosperity to modernise agriculture and rural areas.”

By OUC