From barren hill to orchard, how one-armed man changed his fate

An ecological orchard on a rocky hill blooms again thanks to Song Xin'an's devotion and determination in the past 17 years.

The one-armed entrepreneur from Yongshun county of Hunan province was born in a Tujia ethnic farmer's family in 1983.

He accidentally fell into a fire pit when he was 1-year-old. As a result, he lost his right arm and right ear. His mother died of illness when he was 8, and his father struggled to raise him and his sister.

The unfortunate fate didn't depress him; he was determined to change his fate.

Song started to build his orchard in 2001 with his father. They set up a wooden shed on the hill for living, and began to assart the hill to plant fruit trees. In the first year, they cultivated an orchard of 0.67 hectares (10 mu) on the mountain, where there was a lot of wood and bamboo. Through land transferring and pioneering, the orchard has now expanded to more than 11.34 hectares (170 mu).

"Next step is to expand my business appropriately to drive local rural tourism, so that visitors are able to enjoy flowers, picking fruit, fishing, eating, climbing mountains," he said.

Shortage of fund and technology and bad roads were the three main obstacles to Song’s business at the beginning.

He sold the wood and borrowed money to raise fund. There were times when he could not even afford salt. To conquer the barrier of technology he began learning by himself and consulting others. Song and his father dug a road from the orchard to the foot of the hill to improve the path. In 2008, they eventually completed a 1.4 km rough highway connecting to the village road with the help of local government.

Over the past 17 years, despite many setbacks, such as the failure of planting fruit trees and being cheated, Song has not only become a famous fruit grower, with annual net income of 50,000 to 60,000 yuan a year, but also become a typical example of entrepreneurship and encouragement in the county. Song came second at the First Yongshun Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition in March.

Yang Zekun contributed to this story.