New Yorker Greg Lepkoff, 24, found his future and the chance to realize his dream after a two month driving trip across China.
"I know what I would be and what life I'd lead if I stayed in the US," Lepkoff says. "But I want a different life, and the trip answered how."
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Swiss IT engineer Hans Galliker - who has joined American Greg Lepkoff to explore China's countryside - enquiring after the price of piglets in a rural market.
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Born in a Jewish-American family, Lepkoff feels connected to China through food, and the Jewish and Chinese people's shared emphasis on education and family.
He became a student of Asian Studies at Binghamton University in 2005. There he spent one year finishing a 30-page research paper on China's agriculture after joining the World Trade Organization.
However, his extensive reading only made him confused about the country he was studying. "From the books I learnt of a country with a great history and the capability of preserving the historical heritage," he says, "but from the media around me I saw only bad images."
To see the reality with his own eyes, Lepkoff arrived at Beijing two months before the 2008 Olympics.
In October that year, while staying with a Chinese family to refine his language skills, Lepkoff was thrilled to learn in the news that farmers are officially allowed to transfer their land-use rights.
"That probably meant large scale farms would be on a rise," he says.
He thought his opportunity had arrived and contemplated opportunities to trade farming machinery and equipment.
Hans Galliker, a 30-year-old Swiss IT engineer, met Lepkoff in Beijing, where he was studying business at Beijing Union University.
"Our qualities complement each other," he says.
A former farming apprentice, Galliker shares Lepkoff's passion for sustainable agriculture.
The friendship led to the two becoming business partners and the pair set about turning their ideas into reality.
In November 2008, they began to think about a car trip.
"As questions accumulated, we felt the need to explore and find out more about rural China in person," Lepkoff says.
With a budget of US$10,000, they rented a car, hired two Chinese girls as translator and driver, and prepared questionnaires and small gifts.
Having selected 16 provinces, the team set off in February 2009, intent on covering 40 cities and counties.
"We didn't spend even one minute sightseeing," Lepkoff recalls. "We were driving and talking with farmers, officials and companies."
As the journey progressed, they abandoned their questionnaires, as they realized a machinery business was not such a good idea, as replacing the country's huge farming population with agricultural machinery would only create problems, Lepkoff says.
Instead they concentrated on gaining a first-hand understanding of the condition of the farmlands, the soil, farmers' income and education, the crops, food culture and the new developments.
Lepkoff says that they made many friends along the way and that in a way they traveled by following people.
Both believe they found the answers to their questions about establishing an agriculture business in China on the trip.
Lepkoff believes the nation's agricultural policies encourage the growth of an enormous amount of organic farmland. "China's policies are really helping the people," he says.
"The Chinese countryside offers huge potential for development," Galliker adds.
They both agree that the real potential is in sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming, and the pair have begun trading organic fertilizers. Now they are planning to expand the business.
Lepkoff says that he plans to stay in China for at least five more years. "I know China will be a part of me for the rest of my life," he says. Galliker thinks that he will stay for ten.
In 2011, the pair will begin another tour of the country, this time for six months.
(China Daily May 13, 2010)
