In 2016, he arrived in Hainan seeking warmer winters. Like many, he imagined retirement. But instead of buying property, he wanted to build something of his own.
In 2017, when the Hainan government encouraged the building of shared farms with policy support, he established his own farm in Qiongzhong Li and Miao autonomous county, in central Hainan. At first, the farm focused on other crops, including areca palm. Then, in 2019, he met local agricultural experts who showed him the potential of agarwood.
Hang traveled to Maoming in Guangdong, a major agarwood distribution center, to visit planting bases, processing companies and markets. He saw how the industry worked and met the people who later became his partners.
"I visited the plantations, the processors and the traders," Hang said. "Only then did I decide this was an industry worth waiting for."
His decision to clear the areca, he explained, was based on the belief agarwood could provide income plus an industry — with processing, tourism, and a long-term value that a single crop could never match.
His friends thought he had lost his mind.
Since then, Hang has planted 400,000 agarwood trees. His farm, which spans 187 hectares, is now a major agarwood plantation in Hainan.
Hang also wants visitors to understand what agarwood actually is, so his farm combines agarwood forests with tourism experiences, providing camping areas, outdoor activities and ecological projects.
"Many people have heard of agarwood, but they don't know it comes from a tree. There has to be an experience," he said.
