Planting cross-Straits seeds of success

Chung rented more than 20,000 square meters of mountain land in a village and built greenhouses in which to grow organic vegetables and fruit using technology from Taiwan.

He said he was supported by the city's office of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao affairs as he established his high-end garden. The local Party committee and government helped solve many problems, he said.

Chung said his greenhouse was completed as scheduled thanks to the local government that helped him overcome the problems of water and electricity supplies. The structure was built in a rural mountain area where those services were not available at the time.

In addition, the local government introduced a series of preferential policies this year to help investors start businesses in the city.

As his enterprise developed rapidly, Chung turned to helping poor households in the area to escape poverty. He distributed cultivated seedlings to them for planting, and then helped them sell the mature products.

"Last year, I supported and aided more than a dozen poverty-stricken households, and each one earned an additional annual income from 5,000 to 8,000 yuan," he said.

After more than a decade of development on the mainland, Chung and his wife have settled down in Longyan, where they remain confident about the future.

Chung said he hoped to be able to establish a seedling base for agricultural products from Taiwan and attract more young people from the mainland to help run and expand his organic vegetable and fruit business in the years ahead.

Yang Jie contributed to this story