Forty Years of Xuefeng Medicine Town

The male protagonist Chen Xianjun graduated from the Provincial Agricultural College majoring in Chinese medicinal materials in 1980 and was assigned to a county seed company. While accompanying his team to the countryside to collect improved seeds, he discovered that wild Polygonatum odorata, Polygonatum odorifera, and Gastrodia elata were scattered all over the mountains in his hometown of Xiaoshagang, but no one knew about them, but the villagers relied on food relief to survive. In 1983, he quit his job, which was envied by everyone, and returned to his village to run for village chief. He used three-thirds of his own private land to try growing alpine medicinal materials alone. In the next forty years, he led the villagers through four stages of wild domestication, village-wide standardized planting, town-wide ecological industrialization, and medicine tourism integrated health care upgrades, transforming Xiaoshagang from the poorest impoverished village in northern Hunan into a national 5A-level scenic spot and a national rural revitalization demonstration town. The most glorious moment in the book is not at the peak of the industry, but in 2007 - Chen Xianjun was already the secretary of the town committee, with a prosperous official career and a prosperous town. However, he voluntarily resigned from all party and government positions and became the principal of the town middle school. He said: "Industries can be created, roads can be repaired, and scenic spots can be built, but talents cannot be retained or passed on. Everything is short-lived."