"During the past decade, I have inspired many young people to move to rural areas, to engage in agriculture and help farmers. I hope to root and bloom in the countryside, and to help develop this land full of hope," Hua Mengli told a news conference, themed Strivers on the New Journey, organized by the State Council Information Office, on May 23, 2025. Hua, who was born in 1995 in Zhenjiang, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, is general manager of Jiangsu Guomubuwang Farm.
Hua's entrepreneurial achievements are remarkable. In 2024, she was named a National Young Pioneer Model of Rural Revitalization. In 2025, she was named a Good Samaritan of China, for having been a college graduate who returned to her hometown to start a business and lead villagers in developing the "field of hope."
Devoted to Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
In 2010, Hua's father rented more than 200 mu (13.3 hectares) of land in Xili, a village in Zhenjiang. He used the land for conventional farming. However, lack of innovation made it hard for him to run the farm, and especially to expand sales. "Though I was only a high-school student, I worried about my dad's farm," Hua recalled.
With the hope of saving her father's farm, Hua in 2013 enrolled in Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry. She majored in horticultural technology, and she joined the college's Xinhe innovation and entrepreneurship program, under which she and her classmates contracted a strawberry garden. After months of hard work, the strawberries sold well. Hua and her classmates each earned an average of 16,000 yuan (US $2,286). The experience gave her the confidence to become an entrepreneur.
Innovation
In May 2016, after their graduation, Hua and four like-minded friends joined her father's farm. Almost immediately, they had to deal with poor sales. After they visited various markets, in Jiangsu, they realized they had to innovate their farming techniques.
They spent the next 11 months transforming the farm into an ecological circular agriculture base (an agricultural system where waste is minimized, and resources are continuously recycled and regenerated). The farm incorporates five industries: Agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and the fishery. They created 12 experiential projects — including sightseeing and fruit picking, vegetable-plot contracting, parent-child tours and outdoor activities — to provide visitors with diverse services and experiences. For example, visitors could harvest sweet potatoes, grind soybean milk, feed small animals and enjoy on-farm fun.
Transformation of the farm was a turning point; since then, the farm has received at least 100,000 visitors a year, generated an output value of 32 million yuan (US $4.6 million) annually, and achieved a repurchase rate in excess of 75 percent.
Since achieving the success, Hua has aimed to achieve year-round supply of the farm's crops. In 2018, she worked with Jiangsu Vocational College of Agriculture and Forestry to build a "plant factory" (a labor-saving base, where plant growth is not or is minimally constrained by natural conditions). Now, multiple varieties of fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, sweet persimmons and watermelons, are available year-round at the farm.
Persistent R&D
As part of her farm management, Hua has focused on technological innovation and application. In August 2018, some farmers' strawberry seedlings died, which resulted in massive losses. Hua eventually identified the cause, strawberry disease, and she worked tirelessly to resolve the problem.
She built a tissue-culture room. During the hot summer, the sterilization room (50 C) was like a sauna. Still, Hua spent three months testing hundreds of formulas, until she found the right culture-medium formula for strawberry seedlings. She helped the farmers avoid future losses, and she improved both strawberry yield and quality.
Hua has not hesitated to share the technologies she has developed with other farmers. For example, she organized a team to provide assistance and technical guidance to farmers. The team is composed of 49 young graduates, all of whom have majored in agriculture. She has also provided technological training to more than 22,000 people, supported more than 700 farmers in growing crops and helped farmers increase their incomes by a combined 120 million yuan (US $17.1 million). Her technologies are being used, in 57 regions, in 16 provinces or autonomous regions.
When asked about her plans for the future, Hua says she wants to develop 20 teams, of youth, to promote ecological circular agriculture and open "field classrooms," nationwide, by the middle of 2026. Hua's accomplishments have inspired 67 college graduates to move to rural China.
"I am willing to root in the countryside, and to work in the fields. Rural areas have great potential, and agriculture will thrive. I will lead farmers to prosperity, and I will encourage more young people to advance rural revitalization," Hua says.
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly January 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
