Xu Gang, president of Jiangtian Shengtai Farm in Qidong, is dedicated to bringing a better life to local villagers. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Jiangtian Shengtai Farm – located in the county-level city of Qidong in Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province – was crowded with tourists from Shanghai in East China during the recent May Day holiday.

Xu Gang, the farm's president, was honored as a Jiangsu provincial model worker this year. Xu started his business in Qidong in 2009. In 2011, he quit his business in other areas in China, deciding to dedicate himself to leading locals in Qidong to a better life.

Ground was broken at Jiangtian Shengtai Farm in 2011. Focusing on exploring traditional folk culture and becoming a sports leisure base, the farm grew into a national five-star enterprise in leisure agriculture and rural tourism after several years of development.

At present, Jiangtian Shengtai Farm receives 600 tourists per day on average and more than 200,000 visitors annually, and has become a gilded sign of Nantong's rural tourism.

Over the years, Jiangtian farm has provided more than 200 jobs for the surrounding villagers, and helped them sell agricultural products worth more than 10 million yuan ($1.55 million) every year.

In addition, Xu also provides free sites and technical guidance and promotes new varieties and technologies to locals, to lead them to prosperity.