Liu Huiting, who chairs an agricultural machine rural cooperative in her hometown, has evolved from a college graduate to a young, new farmer, and that evolution has enabled her to transform herself from an accountant to an agricultural-machine operator. For more than a decade, Liu has been working in the fields in and around her hometown, Youcheqiao Village in Puyuan Town, in Tongxiang, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province. During that time, she has helped her fellow villagers pursue and achieve common prosperity and rural revitalization.

Returning Home, Working in Fields 

Liu graduated from Zhejiang Industry Polytechnic College, in Shaoxing, a city in Zhejiang Province, in 2012. Shortly after, she began a career in accounting. Around that time, her father established a rural cooperative in her hometown. Her father was often busy using agricultural machines, especially to transplant rice seedlings. He worked long and hard, and twice he was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Liu, who worried about her father, left her job to return home to take over the cooperative. Liu recalls how she often followed her father around in the fields when she was little. As such, she expected operating agricultural machines would come easy to her. But when she actually drove a harvester, she realized it was not that easy. She adjusted her mindset, and she began learning — humbly, from books, her father, experts and other farmers — the skills needed to operate the machines. She faced difficulties head-on, and she trained to use different types of agricultural machines, including tractors, harvesters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Within a year, Liu had transformed herself into a professional agricultural-machine operator. She had also become proficient at repairing and improving the functions of the machines. 

Taking Root, Enhancing Competence

In 2013, Liu was elected chair of the agricultural machine rural cooperative. To improve her ability to run the cooperative, Liu began taking training classes, where she was the youngest student — and one of the few women trainees. "When I was little, farming was laborious. One had to work really hard. Yet, the income was poor," Liu says. Her biggest dream was to make the work less laborious for farmers. 

While in the classes, Liu learned new technologies, information about agriculture and the application of agricultural machines, and technologies used to transform agricultural waste into renewable resources. In October 2019, Liu participated in a 15-day training session in Frankfurt, Germany, which broadened her horizons. After she finished the program and returned to her hometown, Liu put into practice what she had learned. She also purchased a new, unmanned aerial vehicle. She used it to spray the rice fields, and that greatly improved her work efficiency. 

Through her efforts, the rice seedlings have grown better, the grain yield has increased, and the villagers have earned more money. Her cooperative has explored various agricultural-machine-service models, such as whole-process trusteeship of grain fields and whole-process mechanized services. Liu has realized her dream, step by step, and she has enabled more villagers to participate in, and benefit from, agricultural development. 

Improving Rural Development

During the past 10-plus years, Liu has developed the cooperative into a standardized cooperative. She has obtained the senior agricultural-machine-worker certificate, and she has worked with various professors to improve the functioning of the agricultural machines. She has advanced from a "layman" to become an "agricultural-machine expert." She has not only achieved personal growth, but has also delivered changes to the countryside, and she has guided villagers in pursuing common prosperity. 

Thanks in large part to Liu's efforts, mechanization has been achieved on all rice fields in Youcheqiao. Her cooperative has grown, from having just seven employees and a dozen machines to housing 110 staff and 7.2 million yuan (US $1.01 million) in fixed assets. The cooperative's whole-process mechanized services have covered 1,800 mu (120 hectares) of land, benefitted 865 people from 365 rural households, and provided 28 jobs. 

In recognition of her efforts, Liu, in recent years, has received many accolades, including being named a March 8th Red-Banner Holder in Zhejiang. In 2024, Liu was named a model worker in Zhejiang. 

Through her hard work, Liu has shown people it is possible for college graduates to pursue careers, and make great achievements, in their hometowns. Liu is happy to see more and more young people are choosing similar paths, and they are using their knowledge and contributing to rural development. As a result, they are making their hometowns better places.

Photos from Interviewee

(Women of China English Monthly March 2025)

Editor: Wang Shasha