"This year's grapes have already been ordered by a company in Sichuan," he says.
Altogether about 200 Guoyuan villagers who migrated to other places for work have returned and joined the grape industry. Besides people like Zhang who manage a family vineyard, there are many others who engage in processing the harvested fruit and selling it. The village now has a total of 346.7 hectares of grape vines, and cultivates more than 40 types.
Yu Weizhong, 46-year-old villager who, like Zhang, returned home to grow grapes in 2013, earns around 700,000 yuan each year now.
"Since I can get a good income by working at home, it made sense to come back. Growing grapes in our village has good prospects, and some of my friends also want to come here to grow grapes," says Yu.
According to Li Yongwei, the Party chief of Guoyuan village, the climate of the village is not ideal for growing grapes, but they have actively explored advanced cultivation techniques since the 1990s.
"In the 1990s, many villagers grew grapes, but the quality was not satisfactory. So, we sent village officials to learn and gain experience from other places, who then guided villagers to grow different breeds. Now we have explored leading grape growing techniques in China and we can control the yield of grapes in less than 1,500 kilograms per mu (0.067 hectare) and set unified standards to ensure quality," says Li.
After achieving enough experience himself, Zhang has considered how he can help others. "Since I received tremendous assistance, I also want to help those in need, and show them a way out of poverty. I was poor, and can totally understand the desire of those in poorer households to live a better life."
He applied to help four poor households. With his aid, the households have all lifted themselves from poverty.
In the future, he hopes to restructure his vineyard and install a fully automatic control system to reduce manpower and improve quality of the grapes.
He has also remarried.
He is quite satisfied with his life now, saying: "I have planted a good fruit, married a good wife, had a good boy, bought a good house, and I drive a good car and live a good life."
