By Xinhua writer Wu Qi

    BEIJING, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- Hu Zaichun, a middle-aged farmer from Southwest China's Sichuan Province, was beside himself.

    After half a year of running a poultry yard with two other farmers in Huzui Village, Yilong County, they had made a net profit of 60,000 yuan, which is roughly 8,500 U.S. dollars -- and about 15 times the average annual income of rural Chinese residents in 2007.

    Over the years, Hu, despite his diligence, regretted having missed too many chances to make money in this picturesque mountainous hinterland, the hometown of Marshal Zhu De, one of the founders of the People's Republic of China.

    Hu was chronically short of funds to expand beyond his small farm.

    Two years ago, Hu applied for a loan of 20,000 yuan with a financial institution in the county seat to raise pigs. He paid countless visits to the bank's business hall over the course of a month and was always told to "wait" as he did not have any collateral.

    In 2007, Hu saw the chance for a better life. On March 1 that year, a community bank, known as Huimin Village Bank, started up in Yilong, a county under Nanchong City, Sichuan Province.

    Huimin Village Bank was actually the first community bank to open after the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), the industry supervisor, acted to facilitate banks' expansion into rural markets in 2007.

    Hu and two fellow farmers in Huzui Village, Luo Sanjun and Liu Xiuping, decided to visit the new bank, although they weren't too optimistic. But they got a loan in two days: 160,000 yuan for a poultry yard.

    They're now raising 14,500 chickens. In half a year, they sold 10,000 chickens, getting especially good prices as Lunar New Year approached. And Hu and his partners weren't the only lucky ones.

    Half a month after it opened, the village bank learned that the county government wanted to boost the otter-raising business in Fuxing Town, one of the larger towns in the county. The bank did a meticulous market survey and found that the business was fairly promising and would allow farmers to repay loans in five to six months. The bank quickly lent 1 million yuan to about 1,000 households in the town.

    "We aim to serve all local farmers, lending them normally no more than 20,000 yuan each time," said Cai Xiaodong, vice-president of the bank. "Farmers would find it simpler to get loans with us, as we require no warranty or mortgage," said Cai. "We consult village officials and rural businessmen concerning the applicants' credit standing and repayment capacity."