Successful venture

Before his successful foray into apiculture, Long was known as an orphan in difficult circumstances－his mother left the family when he was a little boy, his father died when he was 18 and his younger sister succumbed to disease soon after. Demoralized by the hardships, Long kept himself in a drunken stupor almost every day.

Fortunately for him, Long, inspired and supported by poverty alleviation measures, began to work hard at his beekeeping. The business increased his income and helped him attract his future wife from a neighboring village.

"I met her at a blind date event organized in Shibadong, but her family opposed our relationship due to my poverty at the time," Long said. He waited a year until his apiculture business started yielding profits and succeeded in a marriage proposal in 2016.

The honey business has also benefited other villagers. More than 560 residents in Shibadong and neighboring villages joined a beekeeping cooperative led by Long, over half of whom used to be stricken by poverty with their per capita income less than 3,000 yuan each year.

With the development of suitable industries and businesses, villagers in Shibadong can get jobs and make a decent living right at their doorstep.

Long Xianlan said the opportunities he tapped from beekeeping have turned him from a despondent, aimless pauper into a responsible husband providing for a happy family that fully enjoys the warmth and comforts of home.

"My life now is sweeter than the honey I make," he said.

Song Jinliang contributed to the story.