The "2025 National March 8th Red-Banner Holder" list has been announced, and multiple faculty members and students from the Open University of China (OUC) are among the honourees. These women have dedicated themselves to their work with unwavering commitment, shouldering responsibilities with quiet strength and reflecting their original aspirations through their prime years. They are trailblazers in their respective fields, and boundary-breakers in life. Starting today, let's get to know these exceptional OUC women, listen to their inspiring stories, and witness the radiance they bring.
SHEN Jianli is a member of the Communist Party of China. She graduated from the 2022 Autumn Horticulture programme at Zhejiang Branch of the Open University of China. She currently serves as Secretary of the Party Branch and Director of Haining City Nituxiang Specialty Breeding and Planting Professional Cooperative. In 2026, she was honoured as a "2025 National March 8th Red-Banner Holder." Her awards include "National Model Worker," "Zhejiang Provincial Model Worker," and "Zhejiang Provincial March 8th Red-Banner Holder."
In 2002, SHEN switched her careers and started a business, turning to the land where her ancestors had lived for generations, exploring the cultivation of Zuili plums. Zuili plums, one of Jiaxing's rare specialty products, are also the only fruit tree variety in Zhejiang Province listed for endangered rescue and protection. To select high-quality Zuili plum seedlings, SHEN and her husband travelled throughout Jiaxing, cultivating the good seedlings they collected in their own fields. In 2009, under the guidance of the Jiaxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, they finally selected satisfactory seedlings and expanded their cultivation.
Today, SHEN's Zuili plum orchard has been certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as pollution-free agricultural products, winning gold medals at the Jiaxing High-Quality Fruit and Vegetable Exhibition for consecutive years. She herself has become the first person in Haining City to plant Zuili plums on a large scale. Over the years, she has also donated Zuili plum seedlings to nearly 2,000 households in her village, personally teaching them hands-on cultivation techniques. She has also helped villagers in Yuanhua Town, as well as neighbouring counties like Haiyan and Pinghu, start growing Zuili plums, boosting their incomes and leading them forward on the path to rural revitalisation.
Under SHEN's leadership, the once unknown Shuangfeng Village has leaped to become the "Number One Zuili Plum Village in Northern Zhejiang." In addition to planting Zuili plums, SHEN also cultivates Stropharia rugoso-annulata mushrooms under the plum trees, which is an ecological farming model she has freely shared with fellow villagers. The cooperative has also built a provincial-level farmers' field school, a Zhejiang 4-star agritourism site, and a primary and secondary school study base, providing over 20 jobs annually.
Starting in 2023, SHEN sent over 200 Zuili plum seedlings she personally cultivated to Heishui County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, over 2,000 kilometres away. SHEN remarked that with the country vigorously implementing the rural revitalisation strategy, both the Jiangnan water towns and the western regions are bursting with vitality everywhere. She will continue to lead fellow villagers to till the soil for prosperity, making life more and more promising.
By Department of Student Affairs and Teacher Development
Published: 27 March 2026