Grassroots official in China's Sichuan brings rosy prospects to villagers through rose industry

Chen Wanghui, a grassroots official in Maoshui village, Xiaojin county, southwest China's Sichuan Province, has led many villagers to prosperity by developing the rose industry.

Chen Wanghui (Xinhua/Liu Qiong)

Located at the foot of Jiajin Mountain, the village has an average altitude of nearly 3,000 meters, and people there once faced a hard life due to the high and barren mountains.

Chen, who ran restaurant and hotel businesses, was elected as the director of the village committee at the end of 2010. Since then, she has helped villagers get rid of poverty and live better lives.

Back then, rampant wild boars often destroyed villagers' crops. Chen coincidentally found several roses in a field of ruined crops and decided to grow them, which have high economic value and are free from the damage of wild boars.

After learning techniques from rose growers, Chen visited rose planting bases in multiple areas and mastered rose planting techniques several months later.

Chen Wanghui picks roses in the field. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Chen planted eight rose varieties in the village, an ideal place for the growth of roses. She then established a cooperative and led members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the village to teach villagers how to plant roses. When the village's rose market was stagnant, she bought villagers' roses at a price higher than the market price.

In 2016, Chen was elected as secretary of the village's Party branch and set up a factory that processes roses. The factory has developed over 10 kinds of rose products which have seen brisk sales, including rose essential oil.

While improving the lives of residents in Maoshui village, Chen has introduced rose planting techniques to more than 40 villages in Xiaojin county.

Chen Wanghui talks with a villager in the field. (Photo provided by the interviewee)

Yu Fuliang, a resident of Gonghe village in the county, is handicapped in the right leg. He began to plant roses in 2015 under the influence of Chen, which increased his income to 3,700 yuan (about $520) in 2016. At present, Yu plants roses on 4 mu (about 0.27 hectares) of land and can earn over 10,000 yuan from every mu of roses per year.

Nowadays, the rose industry has become one of the pillar industries in Xiaojin county. The planting area of roses in the county reaches 15,000 mu, and rose growers see an average annual increase of income of more than 5,000 yuan.

Chen has been awarded national honorary titles for her contributions to the poverty alleviation cause and elected as a delegate to the upcoming 20th National Congress of the CPC. "I will keep making efforts to help villagers increase their incomes," Chen said.