Women in China are truly "holding up half the sky" in advancing agricultural and rural modernization. With their wisdom and tenacity, they have been injecting sustained momentum into rural development. This article focuses on the story of Qiu Guimin, a "rural CEO (chief executive officer)" in Pingnan, a county in Ningde, a city in southeast China's Fujian Province.
Qiu Guimin, a "rural CEO" in Pingnan, a county in Ningde, a city in southeast China's Fujian Province, returned to her hometown, from Xiamen (another city in Fujian) in 2016. Since then, she has played her role in the rural revitalization of Pingnan County.
During the past decade, Qiu has witnessed — and helped effect — the beautiful changes that have taken place in both Nanwan and Boyuan, two villages in Pingnan. Given her efforts in promoting sci-tech, agricultural-production skills and integrating the development of agriculture, culture and tourism, Qiu has been named a National Woman Pacesetter for Achievements and a National Model Worker of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
Qiu Danian, Qiu Guimin's father, runs a family business, where he makes yellow wine and malt sugar, both of which require a considerable amount of sticky rice. After she returned to her hometown, Qiu Guimin began thinking about contracting farmland, so she could produce organic rice for family's business. Her younger sister, Qiu Guiying, also returned to Pingnan to help.
After a few visits to Nanwan, Qiu Guimin in 2020 signed a contract with the village to cultivate 200 mu (13.33 hectares) of wasteland, on terraced fields, for farming. As the fields are located about 1,000 meters above sea level, and given the climate, crops can only be planted and harvested on those terraced fields once per year.
Initially, neither Qiu Guimin nor Qiu Guiying knew anything about growing crops. They hired several elderly farmers, who had remained in Nanwan. However, the young women failed to understand they needed to adopt crop-planting skills that differed from the "normal methods" used on low-altitude farmland.
During a meeting with experts, from Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qiu Guimin discussed the various problems she had encountered while trying to grow paddy rice on the terraced fields. The discussion was informative, as she learned she should have focused on producing certain varieties of high-quality rice, rather than trying to achieve high yields. Under the experts' guidance, she chose to grow red rice and black rice, both of which are rich in anthocyanin.
Qiu Guimin's persistence paid off. In 2022, Nanwan was named a Fujian provincial model village of rural revitalization.
Last year, Qiu Guimin was invited to work with Boyuan, a village in Changqiao, a town in Pingnan. She has since taught the villagers how to develop paddy rice production on the high-altitude terraced fields. What's more, she has introduced colorful educational and cultural activities to enrich the villagers' lives.
During this year's summer vacation, Qiu Guimin launched a "rural-class" program on an old, refined opera stage in Boyuan. Every afternoon, children arrived at the venue to attend fine arts and/or music classes between 2-3 p.m., and from 3-4 p.m., the children completed their homework.
The "rural-class" program attracted students, from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, who volunteered as tutors. Some music or sports teachers, who were born in Boyuan, but who had relocated to other places for work, returned to their hometown and volunteered to teach the children. "More and more young people are willing to come to the countryside, including Pingnan County, to do seemingly small, yet good, things for the children. Taking part in educational and cultural activities — for public welfare — is their way of participating in rural revitalization," Qiu Guimin explains.
Now, as a "rural CEO," Qiu Guimin is playing her role, by offering assistance to farmers and village officials. She works tirelessly to help farmers build connections with media resources, so they can better promote their crops and agricultural products to a wider market. She also provides creative ideas to village officials, so they can organize more integrated activities to boost the development of agriculture, culture and tourism, and so they can improve rural governance and operation skills.
What is her plan for improving rural development of Pingnan County in the near future? "We have huge areas of terraced fields. We need to continue the production of paddy rice of special varieties, such as red rice and black rice. We need to introduce other good-quality rice varieties as well, to lay a solid foundation for agricultural production in our county. Smart agriculture is another aspect I am working on. In Nanwan Village, we have installed 4K-livestreaming equipment, which broadcasts our crops' growing process through a panoramic view," Qiu Guimin says.
She also hopes to use the special varieties of paddy rice, produced in her hometown, to make yellow wine and rice cakes. In addition, she plans to design study-tour routes, and organize cultural and art events, to inject new impetus for rural revitalization in Pingnan.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly September 2026)
Video Editors: Ye Shan and Cheng Yijia
Editor: Wang Shasha
