A farmer who was forced into a debt of nearly 1 million yuan ($146,364) has kept his promise of repaying the money little by little for 17 years, thanks to the trust of the creditors and the support of his family, Hubei Daily reported.

Chen Tinghai, 62, is a farmer from Hongguang village of Banyue town, Hunan province. In 1996, Chen became a middleman who purchased grain from nearby farmers and sold it to grain and oil mills. Because of Chen's integrity in doing business, most farmers from nearby villages were also willing to sell their grain to him.

All went well until June 2006. Chen collected rapeseeds from his and nearby villages and sold them to an oil mill. The owner of the factory claimed that the working capital was insufficient and made a bargain with Chen over settlement in batches. But later, the owner ran away and the rapeseeds and oil in the factory were gone. The factory owed Chen 1.05 million yuan for the rapeseeds, among which only 70,000 yuan belonged to him and 980,000 yuan were to be given to 210 other local farmers.

There were about 100 grain middlemen like Chen and some of them also ran away. But Chen decided to repay the money. After discussing with his wife Liu Zhijun, Chen sold valuable items, livestock and surplus grain for debt repayment. But that was not enough.

Chen, together with his wife, visited every family that sold their rapeseeds to him. Chen apologized, begged the villagers to trust him and promised to do everything in his power to repay the debt. Chen and his family kept their words.

To pay the money back as soon as possible, Chen's family rented more land to plant crops, and Chen was able to continue to act as a grain middleman thanks to his good reputation.

His son Chen Chao was preparing to take postgraduate entrance exam in 2006. After learning about the debt, he decided to take a job and has been helping to pay off the debt.

Chen Chao said he never regretted this decision. "My parents are both farmers and haven't told me about being honest and keeping one's words. But they have lived their life with integrity, setting an example for me. I believe my father also never regretted his decision 17 years ago," Chen Chao added.

After all these years, Chen Tinghai has repaid most of the debt. He said the only wish he has now is to pay back the remaining debt of 140,000 yuan.