Farmer's passion to help reaps rewards

Hometown hero in Hunan promotes agricultural development so villagers can find work, escape poverty

Xiao Yuan, 28, said she has a special attachment to the countryside, as her family grew up in rural areas. "I've always been attracted to villages," she said.

After studying in Russia for seven years, Xiao started planting orange groves in her hometown of Shexingshan in Hunan province, and has since helped more than 2,000 villagers escape poverty.

Xiao got her undergraduate degree from the Lomonosov Moscow State University and a master's in linguistics from the St Petersburg State University. She could also have gone on to pursue a doctorate but instead, she opted to return to Shexingshan. "I had been away from home for too long, and I missed China so much," she said.

One day in November 2019, she bought some pork from an elderly man in a nearby village.

Xiao didn't have cash and couldn't pay through WeChat because the man didn't have an account. He said he would come to her house and collect payment the following day.

As the man had promised, he turned up at her house for payment, and while driving him home, Xiao realized that he had walked hours to reach her along a 3-kilometer road through the mountains.

His wife, who is visually impaired, was waiting at the door for them.

"When they shook my hands and said I was a good woman, I felt very guilty," she said, adding that she then began thinking about doing something to help poor families in nearby villages.

Toward the end of 2019, she rented 66 hectares to plant oranges and tangelos, hoping to drive rural vitalization and help develop the area's economy.