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Although Chen Yunlian is one of the nation's top 10 female farmers, she is more widely known by her nickname "Chen Lajiao (Pepper Chen)."
Chen was born in Yushu city's Tai'an village, Jilin Province, a town famous in China for soybean. To overcome poverty, Chen studied the technology of cultivating pepper in Heilongjiang Province in 1985. In the same year, she grew 2.8 mu (0.47 acres) of peppers and earned even more by growing a further 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of maize.
Chen did not forget her fellow villagers. She passed on her knowledge of technology and gave them pepper seeds and fertilizer. All the 75 families in her village started to grow peppers and within two years Chen's nickname had spread throughout the region.
As a farmer and Party member, Chen understood her responsibility. She said Party members should lead in developing productivity. With the help of the Party and the Women's Federation, Chen invested 400,000 yuan (US$48,268) to set up the Yunlian Pepper Company in 1995, which combines production, training and services and generates more 500,000 yuan (US$60,335) per year. In 1999, Chen and the Women's Federation jointly built Jilin Shuanglian Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. The company contracted 150 hectares (375 acres) of maize fields and produced quick-frozen maize. She then took charge of alleviating poverty in Jilin Province. In barren Salinas, Chen and her workmates drilled wells, planted trees, raised bulls and grew peppers. In two years, villagers there not only got rich, but opened their minds.
Chen attended the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China as the only female farmer delegate from Jilin Province in 1997. During the Congress, the film Xilian was shown in Beijing. Chen was introduced to public in the premiere as the film's prototype heroine.
Elected again as a National Congress delegate, Chen said she will work harder to lead farmers in getting rich and contribute even more to rural economic development.
(China.org.cn translated by Feng Yikun, November 13, 2002)
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