Chinese student encouraged by farm owner enrols in master’s programme 6 years later

Chinese social media users were touched by the story of a young man who, six years ago, was encouraged by a strawberry farm owner he discovered through an English exam question – and has now fulfilled the promise they made.

He Ziqi, a postgraduate student in artificial intelligence at the Central University of Finance and Economics, shared the story as he began a new chapter of his life in Beijing.

Six years ago, when He was a senior secondary school student, a Beijing strawberry farm owner encouraged him to “study hard and come to Beijing.”

He later went to another province for his undergraduate studies, but never forgot their promise.

Their first encounter was an unusual one: He came across the farm owner in a question on his English exam in 2020.

The reading passage was about a strawberry farm, or strawberry-picking garden, in Beijing. It even included an address and a mobile phone number.

Assuming the number was probably made up, He was still curious enough to search for it on a messaging app – and was surprised to find that it was real.

He added the farm owner, surnamed Wang, who encouraged him to study hard and come to Beijing.

Wang said He was not the first curious student to contact him. Wang has run the strawberry garden for 21 years, and students first began getting in touch with him as far back as 19 years ago.

Wang was puzzled at first, especially since the students were all calling from outside Beijing. When he asked how they had heard about his garden, they told him they had seen it in an English exam.

Wang said he receives 10 to 20 calls from students each year. He has never changed his number, however, because he considers the children’s curiosity harmless.

“Maybe an English teacher saw my advertisement and turned it into a reading passage,” Wang said.

Wang also encouraged the students who contacted him to study hard and come to Beijing.

He said he wished them all a bright future, especially because he regretted not having studied harder when he was in secondary school.

After starting his new life in Beijing, He got in touch with Wang, who invited him over for Peking duck.

Wang also told He that his daughter, who is in secondary school, attends a campus right next to He’s university.

“The farm owner is a great person. He wasn’t bothered, even though hundreds of curious students have contacted him,” one online observer commented.

“Destiny is truly wondrous,” another said.

“Now English teachers can turn your story into a new reading passage,” a third joked.