Yang Ying, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) and president of Hainan Rose Valley Industry Development Company, vows to help more villagers in South China's Hainan Province acquire wealth through the rose industry.

Yang started her rose flower business in Shanghai in 1997, and then dabbled in the field of planting rose flowers. She found out that it might be possible to plant out-of-season rose flowers in Hainan when she made an investigation in the province in 2006. With the support of the local government, she began trying to plant rose flowers in the province.

Yang made great efforts in optimizing growing conditions in Hainan, and she finally made it after two years of trials. She rent 2,755 mu (183.66 hectare) of land and established a rose valley in Bohou, a former poverty-stricken village in Sanya, in 2009. Later, she introduced tourism to the rose valley, which has attracted increasing tourists.

Yang has been involved in deep processing and rose-related secondary industries since 2014, developing 38 series and more than 300 varieties of products on skin care, food and jewelry which have been well received on the market. 

She invited local villagers to become shareholders and employ them to work in the valley, striving to lift them out of poverty.

Now, nearly 500 villagers nearby are working in the valley. A total of 22 rose planting cooperatives have been built in nearby villages. Under the guidance of Yang, the locals have escaped poverty through rose flowers. The rose valley has become a new calling card of Sanya City.

"I used to be concerned only about my employees' wages, but now I'd like to fulfill my responsibility as an NPC deputy to benefit more people," said Yang.

She submitted a proposal on strengthening planning and designing of the buildings in rural areas and constructing a batch of pilot garden towns and villages during this year's "two sessions," aiming to improve the living environment and quality of tourism in rural areas.

Yang offers more hope for the future. "In 2020, I wish to develop a larger modern rose industry to decorate the countryside and make the villagers' lives better," she said.

(Women of China)