By Lisa Carducci
Xinjiang is a vast land for breeding animals: horses, cows, sheep, and even deer. Before introducing Liu Hexin, I must speak of the Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps, which have played and will always play a major role in the development of the region. The Corps was founded in 1954 to ensure the food supply of the army and to support the local agricultural production. They were first composed of soldiers, but, during the "cultural revolution" in the 1960s, middle and high school students, of whom some were from Shanghai, joined the contingent. In the beginning, the Corps took care only of the cereal and edible oil supply. Little by little they entered all sectors: agriculture, industry, and scientific research.
This "army" had been entrusted by the state with producing arable land and protecting Xinjiang, which is a border region of China. The Corps has been the main force of Xinjiang economic progress. One-seventh of the autonomous region's population, they have created one-fifth of the agricultural output and provided half of the export goods. When, 50 years ago, the "soldiers" arrived with their families, wasteland and desert were everywhere. They faced extremely difficult conditions and lived in tents or "diwozi," a type of cave dug under the ground and covered with a straw roof above ground level. Piggybacking the material and tools, they constructed reservoirs, dug canals, levelled fields, planted forest belts, built houses and roads, and established high-quality farms and even cities, including Shihezi, Kuitun, and Tacheng. Visiting these cities today, one can hardly imagine that these were desert mere decades ago.
The miracle was renewed before my eyes. Going south from the oasis-city of Korla, I saw the abrupt transition of greenery to the large expanses of sandy terrain, with, occasionally, cotton, corn fields, or abandoned spaces where wild herbs, spiny bushes, or red willow grew. From the car, I could see squares of planted straw that contained the sand. Once rooted, the straw is cut down at 30 cm. On the 160 km we drove, the wildest of nature alternated with these bits of man-made arable land, which were clutched from the desert!
Still in Bayangol Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, I suddenly saw a sign: Team No. 31, then No. 32, and finally No. 33, where I had an appointment with Liu Hexin. The production brigades have kept these designations until now.
Liu Hexin is in his mid-30s. His parents, also born in Xinjiang, were members of the Xinjiang Production & Construction Corps. Liu still lives where he was born. After graduating from Shihezi Institute of Agronomy, he refused several offers to return to work with Team No. 33, on the territory of Yuli but with an independent administration. The teams are part of a superior division called "Shi," and the Bayangol Shi No. 2 is endowed with raising Tarim deer (in Chinese "Tahe malu"). When Liu Hexin started to work, they had to lay the foundation by preparing the soil for cultivating clover, fresh or dry according to the season, to feed the deer two or three times a day, and Liu has not forgotten how many mosquitoes there were then! From the first day, the young man used techniques that he had studied. He observed the animals' lives, as well as their growth. Breeding began in the 1970s and already there were 1,000.
What is the purpose of raising deer? It is not to eat the meat or to save the species from extinction. This animal is not endangered; it belongs to the second category of animals under state protection. The Tarim deer is raised exclusively for the medical use of its antlers. But don't jump to conclusions: no deer is killed. In the wild, males lose their antlers once year; if they don't fall off naturally, the deer get rid of them by butting a tree or ground very hard.
Before entering the farm, staff as well as visitors must spend 10 minutes in a sterilizing cabin, because the deer are very sensitive to some microbes.
"A deer cost 20,000 yuan in the beginning," said Liu, "then the price went down. It is rising again because the domestic market is not significant and because countries, such as New Zealand, having the largest herds, can influence the market. South Korea itself buys more raw material than Canada, Russia, New Zealand, and China combined."
The farm totals 14,000 heads, and Team No. 33 has 1,300. Deer are grouped according to age and sex. In one group are the eight- and nine-year-olds; in another, the four to six. Males are grouped together, and the females, with their fawns. The female gives birth once a year after a 250-day pregnancy. Usually it has only one fawn but sometimes it gives birth to two or even three at one time.
