A Man Ever Enjoined By Deng Xiaoping

                     Mou Naihong

           (Sichuan Commerce Research Society)

We are in a time that generates wealthy men, now and then, from the ten thousand in the 1980s to the millionaire in the 1990s and to the billionaire in the new century. We are used to luxurious cars such as Benz and BM running among other vehicles on the street. We can see wealthy men and women buying too dear stuff without any hesitation. Or we can see them waving an arm in a turf or golf court. But not all of them know that a man should be rich in not only materials but also sentiment.

Mr. Ren Xuping understands well how to be wealthy and happy. He has insisted on helping others since he started his career over 20 years ago. He is happy everyday in contributing to society.   

Running school to make people rich

  20^th June 2007 is another commemorable day for the Xuping Rabbit Industry Corporation that the opening ceremony of “ Training Class” was open in the Xuping Rabbit Science and Technology Park, which was organized by the Chengdu Disabled People Federation. Several tens of disabled people from around Chengdu joined trainees of Xuping Rabbit School. They all had an enthusiastic mind, loving life and full of dream for future, although they are not quite well physically. “Although they could not write as fast as common people, their eyes have told me that they are keen on for knowledge and wanted me to write more on the blackboard”, as Teacher Xu said.

   Xuping Rabbit Technical School has trained altogether several hundreds of thousands of people in the last more than 20 years since 1985. They are from all corners of China and most of them come from undeveloped areas in the three southwestern provinces of China. They include farmers, workers, government servants, retired persons, students and PLA soldiers. The youngest of them is 12 years old and the oldest is 75.

   Mrs. Zhang, general manager of Xuping Rabbit Industry Corporation, has told proudly journalists that of the trainees graduated from the school, there have been thousands of them  selected as members of people’s congress or political consultative conference at different levels or directors of a variety of rabbit associations. And tens of thousands of them have become millionaires. There are 48 persons who were honored by the state on the “Mayday Commendation Conference”, including Li Tianlun from Guizhou, Wang Xiaoqiong from Jingyan and Sun Yueping from Nancong. They are all famous persons.

   There is a much-told story spreading in Sichuan rural areas that “to raise rabbit if to be rich and go to Xuping if to get rid of poverty”.

       Movement of “Badicao”

   The most cared about by Mr. Ren Xuping and his wife Zhang Shuping is how to solve the problem of farmers and get more of them richer in a shorter time, besides what they always do for other public affairs.

   In 2006, they started the movement of “Badicao” in order to involve a greater number of poor families to develop, following the “HPI Gift Transfer Mode” when their “Rabbit King Research Center of Poverty Relief” took part in the China rabbit breeding program initiated by the international heifer organization.

   “Baidicao”is a wild plant growing in hilly areas in Sichuan. It can be survived easily only if there is a little sunshine, soil and water. Once it is still alive it can be more and more vigorous. The movement is such so called because the activity requires simple conditions like the plant and it can keep more and more prosperous.

Actually, the movement is a project fighting against poverty in a scientific way. First, it is to collect information of the rural families which need help and may get donated parent rabbits and technical support, to shake off poverty by. After that, the first helped ones will go to help another group of families. The process goes from one family to another and from one village to another, like “the plant extending here and there until it covers fully a whole place.

At present, the movement is being carried out for 1518 rural families in 15 villages of Dayi county, which has now a total number of up to 170,000 rabbit-breeding families, with more than 2 million rabbits. In addition, this practice has played a role in stabilizing the rural society, because of the fact that over 85% of the participants of the movement are women, who have been left at home to take care of the old parents and children. They can earn additional money by raising rabbits so as to improve their life level and quality.

Further, it is worth of mentioning that the movement is a sustainable ecological circulation mode, as put it several years ago by Mr. Ren Xuping, combining four factors together, that is, (fruit) trees + grass powder granules + rabbits + bio-gas. According to the method, it is first to establish fenced rabbit fields in forests or orchards, second to make scientifically the composites of granules using crop straws and grasses collected locally, and third to feed rabbits with the granules. The wastes of rabbits will be drained into a tank, where the wastes will be fermented to produce gas, which will be used for daily life. And then the liquid and solid disposals are used as fertilizer for the trees. So, this method uses natural resources in a circulation way, to reduce rural pollutants but also solve the fuel problem of the countryside.

 One bio-gas tank generates energy as much as that of 20 trees, and, that is to say, one bio-gas tank can protect 20 trees from being chopped down if the rural families were stick to using firewood.

 It is no wonder why the UN officials thumbed up, saying “Here is different from other places in helping the poor”, during their visit to the Xuping Research Center of Poverty Relief.

     Benz car or Tractor is the same

   Over 20 years ago, The prompt help by the international heifer organization put an end to his long time annoyance over lack of fine species, when Mr. Ren Xuping got excellent rabbits from the organization. On the 1986 spring festival gathering, Mr. Deng Xiaoping gave sincere words to Mr. Ren, “It is not wealthy if only one man is rich but it is really wealthy if every body is rich”. That has become the most important part of Mr. Ren’s enterprise culture. Now, the words are put outstandingly on the wall of the exhibition hall of the corporation. And, from then on, Mr. Ren Xuping has an indebted mind to help others who need his help in China or somewhere in the world. Whatever he does, say, setting up a rabbit technical school, publishing technical books, establishing a poverty relief research center, creating a food factory or initiating a poverty relief fund, are all responding to the society and the people.   

   As Mr. Ren’s wife puts, “it does not matter for us to take a Benz car today or ride a tractor tomorrow. We are not particular about living. We pursue the value of life and the value does not reflect in high or low positions, nor in more or less wealth but demonstrates his contributions to others.”

   Others do business wearily but he feels easy, as Mr. Ren Xuping said, because they treat themselves as merchants and look for the most profits. They are busy in competition and how to deal with contest, but Mr. Ren is busy in helping people and so he feels differently from others. Doing for others is truly a pleasant thing.

A Sichuan Man, Surely Outstanding

   The purpose of my visit to Sichuan is to enlarge my knowledge and it is true that I have got more.

   A teenager, 13 years old, unable to continue his school, had to give up his original intention to be a carpenter to support his family, because he was not only poor but also infected tuberculosis by his father and elder brother.

   But, incidentally, one day, the disappointed and hesitated young man brought a pair of rabbits from bazaar. No body could expect that just the pair of rabbits made the young man become the “China’s Rabbit King”, who can ride the whirlwind later.

   The young man fed the rabbits carefully with fresh grass everyday. Not long after, the female rabbit made a cave and went into it without any intention to come out. He put still fresh grass at front of the cave. Finally, one day, the rabbit was creeping out with 8 baby rabbits following her. Later, the young rabbits were taken to the market and sold for 12 RMB. That was the first business profit of Mr. Ren.  That night, the young man, who had studied only up to the second grade of junior middle school, used his limited mathematical knowledge  and made a calculation, which went like this: A worker of a state own factory had a monthly salary about 12 RMB, plus some material welfare about equal to 6 RMB. Then, a pair of rabbits could produce 48 rabbits in 3 months and the profit per month could be 24 RMB. So, the income of a worker was about equal to the profit generated by a pair of rabbits. Therefore, one year later, the young man had become the first rich man of ten thousand RMB in his hometown. Two years later, his wealth increased to 120,000 RMB and three years later, he had a capital of 400,000 RMB, when he was 16 years old and he became the youngest provincial model worker in Sichuan history. That year was 1985. When he was 18 years old, Mr.Deng Xiaoping told him the words as “It is not rich if one man is wealthy but it is really rich when every body is wealthy”. At age of 19, he was interviewed and encouraged by Mr.Hu Jingtao, the president of China.

But, by the year of 1993, he had to started from the beginning again, although he had earned tens of millions RMB, because his family was split up and all the money was given to his parents and brothers. The only thing left for him and his wife was the experiences they accumulated in the past, or the spirit to help the poor. That wealth, which no body can take away, backs them up for their new course. They combine their fate closer to brothers and sisters in the rural areas.

Here is one thing that has to be recalled. It was just the time that the international heifer organization planed to promote projects in China while Mr. Ren was visiting the United States of America with a China’s youth delegation. The target of the organization is to fight against poverty and its concept in helping the poor is not to “grant a glass of milk but lend a cow to the poor”, plus technical training. And the assisted family has responsibility to transfer at least one cow and the relevant techniques to another needing family. To China, this organization planned 200 fine rabbits instead of cows. The question at that time was to choose the right person as the receiver, who was so experienced in breeding rabbits and could keep the rabbits survived in China. Mr. Ren was designated at last. Mr. Ren did not fail their hope and did a good job. He propagated almost 1000 baby rabbits in only three months using the over 100 parent rabbits survived from long distance transportation. During the past 10 years more, Mr. Ren Xuping has not only fulfilled the requirement from the international heifer organization that he should return rabbits based upon the proportion of 1:1 but he has contributed 5:1, meaning that he has given 5 million more rabbits, or he has passed fine parent rabbits and the techniques to at least 200,000 rural families. The secret of such a great achievement, in comparison with practices assisted by the organization in other countries, is that he keeps the stock rabbits in good and high production while employing local rabbits to nurse the baby rabbits, a way to lighten the burden of the stock rabbits.

The project carried out by Mr. Ren is the highlight of all Heifer programs in the world. And for that, the organization has got a big international award.

The Heifer program has helped him to carve out his second career, in which he has accumulated new experiences reflecting the words of Mr. Deng Xiaoping.

Farmers are weak in fighting against risk, because they are so isolated and poor. Efforts made by Mr. Ren and his wife are to educate the farmers to understand that they has ability to get rid of poverty, if with help of the initial capital, the technology and market and once they have re-organized their resources.

It is fortunate for me that I have ever had a chance to listen to his explanation of the teaching material developed by him and his wife. The material is the best I have ever seen, profound in simple terms, vivid but close to practice, highly influential and operable. It can be easily seen that the authors understand the countryside and farmers and have a wide bosom and view, full of sincere sentiment. So, it is no wonder that there have been many people to go over and look for their help and directions. And no wonder that there will be one millionaire of every 300 of their trainees. In total, there have been 300,000 trainees. But the trainees are charged only 200 RMB as the tuition and 150 RMB for accommodations, except 170,000 of them who have had free stock rabbits and techniques, as they are participants of the “Badicao Movement”.

Mr. Ren Xuping and his wife have established an excellent relationship with their trainees, like brothers and sisters; and, therefore, a solid foundation has been made for their market network, which can also be shared by the farmers they have ever helped. The customers need only a phone call and get their rabbits and teaching materials, no matter where they are located, in Guizhou, the far west, or in Qingdao, the far east.

Mr. Ren is such a man doing business for himself as well as for the society and people.

He likes to stand in the balcony and have his morning noodle with a fresh hot pepper picked up himself from his favorite pepper plant, which he has taken much care of, watering and moving back and forth to the bedroom, for more than 3 years.

As a result, the one-year plant has kept alive and produced peppers every year. It is amazing of the pepper plant, and it is also amazing of Mr. Ren Xuping, who has grown up as the China’s Rabbit King from a poor and sick teenager.