City dwellers live a modern rural dream in Guizhou

Ning, who only finished three years of elementary school, has spent lots of time and effort to attract good professional talent for Shengheng, a key factor in its successful operations.

One such person is Wang Haibin, 34, the company's technical supervisor for its goat project, who was earlier a researcher with the Guiyang agricultural department and a graduate of Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University.

Wang admitted that Chashan has been an ideal place to put his knowledge to the test. He started a goat-raising business earlier with other partners but failed because of a lack of capital.

The milk output at the goat farm is about 250 kilograms per day, Most of the dairy goats are of the Saanen breed, and Wang is working on nurturing a local breed so that more farmers can participate in goat raising and increase the output.

Unlike Wang, Luo Hongwei, a former department manager of Pudong Development Bank Co Ltd in Shanghai, would have never given a second thought or dreamed that he would resettle from the nation's financial center to a small backward village in Guizhou.

Luo's father-in-law was a supplier of Shengheng, who said good things about Ning and made the introduction.

"After almost three days' conversation through day and night, I was deeply touched by Ning's dream－a dream to change rural lives, and I decided to join," Luo said.

He is now in charge of marketing and financing issues for Shengheng.

The three team leaders found Liu Qingchun, who became deputy general manager of Shengheng, through an article Liu posted on the website about agricultural investment and agricultural industry park. Liu called himself a big fan of rural investment, and he owned an agricultural base in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

After a phone conversation, the three drove directly to Liu's place in Chengdu. Similarly, after three days and two nights of conversation that brought only six hours for sleep, they welcomed Liuas the newest member of the team.

"I saw too many agricultural investors who were actually real estate developers; we really want to develop a unique model and a circular economy for Chashan," said Liu.

Many of their friends do not understand their choice, and all of their wives are still in cities as the rural village is too backward in terms of education for their children.

The company has set up a dairy bar in Guiyang, the provincial capital, to supply milk, yogurt, pudding and cheese. The total number of the bars in Guiyang will eventually reach 20, and they are looking for dealers in other cities, according to Ning.

Other industries in Shengheng includes a pig farm with about 1,800 pigs, which has already turned a profit, and flower and kiwi fruit plantations.

According to Ning, about 150 million yuan has been invested in the redevelopment of Chashan, and indications are that the total outlay will hit 2 billion yuan by 2017.

"Funding is not an issue," said Ning. "The important thing is to know how to leverage the capital."

But he also said that financing such projects is not an easy task because they come with many risks and a long gestation period.

"We have been lucky, "he said. "Our projects have been supported by the local government, and it has provided funds for the construction of infrastructure like roads."

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