The Project Team of the Jixi Base for National Conditions Research Conducts Grassroots Fieldwork on Rural Vitalization
From September 14 to 23, 2021, Zhang Xiaoping, a researcher from the Institute of Marxism Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), led the Jixi Base National Conditions Survey Project Team deep into the towns and villages of Jixi County to conduct a special investigation on rural revitalization.
The Jixi Base for National Conditions Survey was established in November 2014 through cooperation between the CASS Institute of Marxism Studies and the Publicity Department of the CPC Jixi County Committee. Over the seven years since its founding, the base has remained rooted in grassroots practice, providing timely tracking of the achievements and experiences gained in local economic, cultural, social, and ecological development. It has paid particular attention to innovative practices regarding the coordinated development of grassroots cultural undertakings and cultural industries. Since 2020, the team has taken rural revitalization as its core theme, going deep into the grassroots to summarize and enhance the successful experiences and practices of Jixi. By drawing rich nourishment for theoretical innovation from these efforts, the team aims to improve the transformation capacity of national conditions survey results and fulfill the mission of serving the grassroots and "writing papers on the motherland's soil" [1].
Jixi County was among the first group of National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Counties and enjoys the reputation of being a "natural oxygen bar of China," characterized by its "lush mountains and lucid waters, and distinguished people with a spirit of place" [2]. As a National Historical and Cultural City, Jixi is a major birthplace and core area of Huizhou culture [3], possessing rich resources in excellent traditional culture where family traditions and precepts are passed down through generations. In 2015, the Zhang Family Precepts were featured in the "Family Rules in Chinese Tradition" column on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, playing an active role in the construction of Party conduct and clean government. Jixi County is also a site for the inheritance of "red genes" [4]; the New Fourth Army guerrillas of Southern Anhui once left their combat footprints on this land, and it is the hometown of Xu Jiapeng, a hero of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Entering the New Era, advanced figures such as Li Xia (a "National Outstanding Communist Party Member" and "Role Model of the Times") and Zhang Jianjun (a "National Advanced Individual in Poverty Alleviation") have emerged. Excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture have achieved well-integrated development in Jixi County.
Jixi County attached high importance to this survey activity. The County Publicity Department, the County Agriculture and Water Resources Bureau, and the County Rural Revitalization Bureau dispatched professional personnel to cooperate with the project team. During the investigation, the team interviewed heads of departments including the County Publicity Department, the Rural Revitalization Bureau, the Converged Media Center, the Cultural Center, and the library. In Jiaopeng Township, Jinsha Town, Chang'an Town, Shangzhuang Town, and Yangxi Town, they engaged in thorough symposiums and exchanges with township leadership bodies and village "two committees" [5] teams. They further ventured into eight villages—Xingfu, Shangcun, Jinsha, Congshan, Wuchuan, Tantou, Wangchuan, and Yuchuan—obtaining the most vivid and first-hand grassroots data through household visits, field inspections, and dialogues with leaders of the drive for prosperity.
(Symposium and exchange with the leadership team of Wuchuan Village, Chang'an Town)
To compose the "great essay" of rural revitalization, Jixi County has organized and implemented the "Five Hundreds Project" by integrating its resource advantages. This includes: the 10-billion-yuan modern agricultural industry cultivation project, the 100-scenic-spot-village creation project, the 100-village family tradition and precept guidance project, the 100-village good governance demonstration project, and the 100-talented-person-led income increase project. This project clearly charts a developmental path toward thriving industries, pleasant living environments, civilized social etiquette, effective governance, and prosperity. By extensively establishing village-level shareholding economic cooperatives, the county supports and strengthens the village-level collective economy. Driven by Party building, it promotes the "three governances" [6]—autonomous governance, rule of law, and rule of virtue—and advances the effective transition from consolidating and expanding poverty alleviation achievements to rural revitalization.
In promoting thriving industries, the county actively popularizes development models such as "village-village alliances and cross-village alliances" and "leading enterprises (cooperatives) + village collectives + households." It actively fosters agricultural industrialization unions and develops family farms with high-quality development, leading farmers to participate directly in industrialized agricultural operations to realize a "dual increase" in modern agricultural output value and farmers' income. The county vigorously promotes the creation of entire industrial chains, establishing the Huizhou cuisine industry as a signature brand of Jixi. It is implementing the "Ten Townships, a Hundred Bowls" and "A Thousand Shops, Ten Thousand Chefs" projects to fully promote the brand of "Hometown of Chinese Huizhou Cuisine."
The county has also implemented the "Huizhou Merchants' Return" project, encouraging Jixi natives living elsewhere to return home to start businesses with capital and technology. Hong Haifei, Party branch secretary of Wuchuan Village, and Cao Yuhua, director of the Wangchuan Village Committee, are typical examples of those returning to serve rural revitalization. The county encourages "local sages and talents" to return and establish master studios, inheritance bases, and practice centers. After retirement, Ling Jun and his wife, sages of Congshan Village in Yangxi Town, returned to give back to their hometown. They invested their family savings into public construction like road repairs, driving the overall development of the area. Jixi County has also implemented a plan to train local talented individuals, cultivating rural talents into Party members and Party members into leaders of prosperity, thereby accelerating the cultivation of rural development leaders, skilled service talents, and production-management talents.
(Investigation in Xingfu Farmhouse, Xingfu Village, Jiaopeng Township)
Xingfu Village in Jiaopeng Township is a beautiful village "setting out toward happiness." Its "agritainment" [7] economy has shown significant benefits, further driven by the hickory nut economy. In recent years, by increasing the scale of land transfer, it has developed the collective economy through unified planning and management, continuously improving public facilities and the village appearance, allowing villagers to fully enjoy the development dividends of the collective economy. Shangcun is a "Traditional Chinese Village," a national demonstration village for rural governance, and a national eco-cultural village. Its ancient village environment is beautiful, and in recent years it has explored effective methods for rural governance. Led by Party building, it has established social autonomous organizations to build consensus and enhance the villagers' sense of happiness.
Wuchuan Village in Chang'an Town possesses precious "red culture" resources from the Southern Anhui New Fourth Army. Its collective economy is developing steadily and rapidly. The village secretary is young, capable, and dedicated. This year, an Anhui provincial rural revitalization work team was stationed there to provide assistance for better and faster development; it is expected that Wuchuan Village's collective economic operating income in 2021 will leap from 500,000 to 1,000,000 yuan. Wangchuan Village in Shangzhuang Town is an ancient village with a long history; its residents are mainly surnamed Cao and are descendants of Cao Cao [8]. Wangchuan Village has made the cultural tourism industry its main direction, relying on unique rural resources to build a cultural tourism industry characterized by "zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting." As the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army once stationed and reorganized here, the village also houses Taiping Heavenly Kingdom murals, which are key cultural relics under provincial protection.
Congshan Village in Yangxi Town utilizes its locational advantages to integrate resources and attract high-end cultural tourism projects, developing agricultural product processing and boutique tourism to explore a path of integrated development between enterprises and the countryside. Yuchuan Village in Shangzhuang, Tantou Village in Chang'an, and Jinsha Village in Jinsha are all creating "one village, one product," developing characteristic agricultural industries, supporting family farms, and providing policy and technical support to plant cash crops suitable for the local area, exploring all possible paths to strengthen and expand the collective economy. Village collective economic operating income has increased year by year.
(The scenery of Jixi County’s beautiful countryside)
Rural revitalization is a grand strategy for continuing the struggle and embarking on a new journey following the comprehensive realization of a moderately prosperous society. In the initial stage of implementing the rural revitalization strategy, Jixi County has conducted comprehensive planning and deployment and achieved phased results. Innovative practices—such as establishing "benefit-farmer" information service stations to provide financial and legal consulting for farmers, and opening "Ecological Beauty Supermarkets" to cultivate the concept of harmonious ecological and economic development—have all won the support of the broad masses of farmers. Like the rest of the country, local challenges such as insufficient capital investment and a shortage of rural talent remain. It is believed that these issues will be gradually resolved with the comprehensive deepening of rural revitalization. The countryside will surely become a beautiful home even more suitable for living and working. The Jixi Base National Conditions Survey Project Team will continue to monitor the latest practices in Jixi County's implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.
(Text provided by Deng Panyi of the project team; Photos provided by Zhang Xihui of the Jixi Base)