What is the value of a brilliantly feathered ornamental chicken? In Ruili City, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Yan Ban, a De'ang ethnic youth born after 1995, recently provided an answer: these birds can not only fetch over a thousand yuan each but also invigorate an entire village, paving a path to prosperity. Yan Ban resides in Nongxian Village, Huyu Township, Ruili City, located on the China-Myanmar border, an area inhabited by multiple ethnic groups including the Jingpo and De'ang people. At the break of dawn, his phone begins chiming with notifications as orders for ornamental chickens from customers thousands of miles away light up the screen.
Several years ago, Yan Ban was working on assembly lines in factories in coastal cities, striving to make a living. Today, he stands in his courtyard, using just a mobile phone to lead fellow villagers in marketing these 'beautiful creatures' nurtured in the remote mountains to a national audience. A return visit to his hometown led Yan Ban to become fascinated by several local chickens raised by a village companion. "These are called 'Dehong chickens,' unique to our area," his friend remarked, sparking an idea. In an era where people increasingly seek unique experiences, distinctive and attractive ornamental poultry presented a promising opportunity. He invested his savings from migrant work to purchase a batch of breeding stock, which he free-ranged on the lush, vegetated hillsides near the village. Thus, Yan Ban chose to root himself in his homeland, breaking from the traditional narrative of leaving home for work by applying innovative thinking.
Riding the wave of short-video and e-commerce development, Yan Ban began filming the leisurely, free-range lives of the ornamental chickens in the mountain forests and sharing the clips on online platforms. Unexpectedly, these videos, brimming with rustic charm, quickly attracted significant attention, leading to a flood of inquiries and private messages. In 2021, Yan Ban secured his first order: a customer from Guangdong Province purchased two high-quality ornamental chickens for 2,888 yuan. This small window of opportunity, opened incidentally through the internet, clearly revealed the business potential inherent in combining specialty breeding with e-commerce.
Entrepreneurship is never easy. To succeed, Yan Ban became a frequent visitor to the township's animal husbandry station. More often, he relied on self-study via the internet to learn about animal nutrition and disease prevention, spending entire days in the coops observing, recording, and identifying patterns. "The operation must be scientific, standardized, and eco-friendly for the industry to be sustainable," he stated. By 2023, online sales of ornamental chickens were well-established, with high-quality or rare breeding stock commanding prices up to several thousand yuan, leading to annual sales surpassing 400,000 yuan. The positive change in Yan Ban's life became evident through improved housing conditions and a steadily expanding breeding scale.
"Individual wealth is not true prosperity; shared prosperity is genuine success," Yan Ban believes. Having become the secretary of the Nongxian Village Youth League Branch, he transformed his breeding base into a 'demonstration classroom' and 'technical consultation station' for the villagers. He generously shares technical expertise, provides breeding stock support, and guarantees a minimum buy-back price, establishing a cooperative development model characterized by 'unified guidance, decentralized breeding, and ordered repurchasing.' This model enables interested villagers, especially those from families with members working away from home, to start their ventures quickly.
Villager Yan Man is one of the beneficiaries. Like Yan Ban years ago, he worked as a migrant laborer after junior high school, taking jobs in factories and as a delivery driver, earning meager and unstable incomes. "Since returning to the village to raise ornamental chickens, I have finally found a development path that suits me. Last year, I earned over 40,000 yuan just from selling these birds," Yan Man said with a smile. Inspired by Yan Ban's success, more than ten households from the De'ang ethnic group have joined the ornamental chicken breeding supply chain, increasing their average annual household income by nearly 20,000 yuan.
Looking ahead, Yan Ban expressed plans to expand the breeding scale further and involve more villagers. He also hopes to deeply integrate ornamental chicken farming with ethnic festivals and ecotourism, aiming to broaden the path of specialty breeding in this borderland mountain village and enable more of these 'mountain spirits' to find their way out of the hills.