'Growing' a Better Life — with Fungi

Huang Rong grows black fungi.

Xixiang is a county in Hanzhong, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. It is one of the poverty-stricken counties in the Qinling-Bashan mountainous region. Under the guidance of and support from CPC (Communist Party of China) committees, people's governments and women's federations, at all levels in the region, women in the mountains have participated in efforts to eradicate poverty. Huang Rong, 31, has persisted in the fight against poverty in Xixiang County. She has spared no effort in her pursuit of a better life.

Huang Rong grows black fungi.

During the past few months, the spring-ploughing season, people in Xixiang County have been busy with their farm work. In Bailong, a  community in the town of Bailongtang, in Xixiang County, Huang grows black fungi in several sheds.

Huang began helping her parents with their farm work when she was 15. Later, she moved to Shenzhen, in South China's Guangdong Province, to earn a higher income so she could support her family. As her parents grew older and became sick, Huang returned to her hometown to take care of her parents. In 2017, Huang's family registered as an impoverished family, due to her parents' illness. 

"When I was a migrant worker in the south, I often asked myself, 'In what way would my family shake off poverty?' Besides traditional farming and breeding businesses, I needed to find a better project to earn a stable income," Huang recalled. For nearly two months, she watched, almost every day, a TV program that taught farmers how to better develop a business and create wealth. She eventually decided to grow black fungi.

Huang was the first person in her village to try to grow fungi, which were planted in the ground. Although no one in the village could teach her how to grow and process edible fungi, and, in fact, many villagers doubted whether Huang could succeed in launching her business, Huang was determined to "grow" a better life — by growing fungi. She surfed the Internet to gather information and develop skills. She worked for an edible-fungus processing company, for free, for three months. She learned how to pack, sterilize, transfer hyphae (threadlike filaments forming the mycelium of a fungus) and grow fungi.

In early 2018, Huang endured the hardship of working in extremely cold weather on the mountains. She spent 10 days working with some of her family members as they prepared the wood, on which fungi would grow. Huang learned how to drive a tricycle, how to build a wire net and how to connect a water pipe in a shed, where she would grow fungi. She went daily to her shed to see how the fungi were growing. 

Huang in 2018 was excited when she saw her efforts had paid off. In September that year, she took the dried fungi she had grown to the first "farmers' harvest festival" hosted in Bailongtang. Huang's fungi were organic because they had grown in an unpolluted, wild natural environment. In less than two hours, the 700- plus grams of dried fungi, which Huang took to the event, had sold out. Many of Huang's fellow villagers gave her thumbs up, and said, "We admire your courage to do a business that none of us have tried before. You are such a great business starter!"

During the past two years, "Huang Rong's fungi planted in the ground" have been regarded as a popular brand in Bailong. After Huang set a good example in leading her family out of poverty, other villagers from impoverished families have asked her to teach them how to grow fungi. Huang has hired some villagers, especially women who stay in her hometown to look after their families. She has shared her knowledge with the women, so the women could try to shake off poverty by growing fungi.

"A fungus looks quite small. But it is this seemingly small business that has enabled me to create wealth and live a better life. As long as we are ready to learn new things, and as long as we have confidence in our fight against poverty, we will surely achieve our goals. Also, we will create together a promising future for our hometown," Huang says, happily.

Photos supplied by Huang Rong and Fan Wenjun

(Women of China English Monthly June 2020 issue)