Jiangnan's Blessed Land Achieves New Heights, Changshu celebrates the 40th Anniversary of County Demolition and City Establishment | "Thousand Villages and Beautiful Houses" Create a New Era of Fish and Rice Hometown, Thousand Villages | Countryside | Era
Changshu, known as the "land of fish and rice in Jiangnan", is named after its "fertile soil, free from floods and droughts". It has been a prosperous land in Jiangnan since ancient times. After the county was abolished and the city was established, Changshu, which has the largest rural area in Suzhou, first built a number of rural modernization pilot villages through 10 years of efforts. Later, it promoted the revitalization of the seed industry through the integration of "breeding and promotion", and built beautiful countryside through the combination of "thousand villages and beautiful houses" and "five governance integration". It implemented "smart agriculture" and "smart countryside", gradually making modernization a reality in the new era of rural areas and continuing the blessing of "land of fish and rice".
Entering the countryside of Changshu, one can see pink walls and black tiles, small bridges and flowing water, and sparse fences everywhere... The old appearance of broken walls and debris, overgrown weeds, and sewage flowing has become a new appearance with diverse forms, reasonable layout, distinctive features, and a modern atmosphere filled with nostalgia and rural flavor. In recent years, Changshu has launched the "Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" project to optimize and enhance beautiful and livable villages throughout the region. The finance department of Changshu City provides subsidies ranging from 30000 to 50000 yuan per household, coordinating the construction of beautiful rural areas, rural housing, shaping of village style, rural environmental improvement, revitalization of existing land, and improvement of village autonomy. By continuously promoting the construction of a new era of beautiful, vibrant, and harmonious rural areas, the countryside has become an ecological "backyard" for enhancing the urban level of Changshu.
"Thousand Villages and Beautiful Houses": Ten Thousand Households Unite to Retain Homesickness
"The village is building a 'Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence', and we eight people have formed a 'skilled craftsman' engineering team, using waste materials such as old bricks, tiles, and wood left from demolishing illegal buildings and old houses for construction. At a construction site in Xinxiang Village, Shanghu Town, bricklayer Zhu Genyuanzheng and several colleagues in the same village are busy repairing small flower walls.".
After the "Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" project was launched in Changshu City, Shanghu Town selected local craftsmen with ideas, skills, drive, and strong local sentiment throughout the town, and formed seven "skilled craftsmen" engineering teams. They used old materials from old houses and unused items from various households, such as jars and millstones, to build small flower walls, vegetable garden fences, etc., to recreate the local style and recreate the rural scenery.
"At that time, Yao Xianjun, the Party Secretary of Zhilin Village, came to me and wanted to use my old house. After discussing with the whole family, they believed that as a native of Zhilin, we should contribute to the construction of a beautiful and livable countryside. So they donated the right to use the old house to the village," said Zhong Xiangdong, a villager from Zhilin Village in Dongbang Town. The old house of Zhong Xiangdong's family was built in the 1960s, with a unique design. It was originally inhabited by his grandparents, but was left unused after the deaths of the two elderly people. Now, this has become a new era civilization practice station and a red village pioneer station in Zhilin Village, an important venue for village and village activities: Party members and village cadres preach policies here; Village doctors and volunteers provide compassionate and free clinics here; Villagers chat and relax here, imagining rural life. At the same time, this is also an important attraction in the village, enriching the connotation of the integrated development of rural Dongbang agriculture, culture and tourism.
In Liyuan Village, Bixi Street, a former "scattered and polluted" area has now transformed into a historical celebrity museum, and together with the Wencun Old Street and the couplet cultural exchange base in the village, it forms the famous "Ink Fragrance Village" far and wide; There is a severely damaged ancient bridge in Pingshu Village, Xinzhuang Town. Some people suggested demolishing it, but after discussion at the village meeting, it was ultimately decided to repair the bridge to deeply integrate the village's scenery with its culture; In Zhenbei Village, Meili Town, 14 inch small televisions, old-fashioned bookshelves, foot sewing machines and other commonly used items in farmers' homes are now stored at the new era civilization practice site in the village, helping villagers retain their memories and nostalgia
"Environmental improvement is not about abandoning tradition and simply replicating, but through rectification, making rural areas look better, villages full of vitality, farmers' lives comfortable, and rural areas harmonious and orderly." Gao Fei, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Office of Changshu Municipal Party Committee, introduced. In the process of implementing the "Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" project in Changshu City, cadres and masses at all levels are encouraged to use their hearts, work hard and skillfully. On the basis of fully respecting the characteristics of natural villages, the wishes of farmers, and local customs, tailored policies are implemented according to local conditions and villages to make the rural water clear, the banks green, and the environment beautiful. At the same time, it is also necessary to retain homesickness and showcase the characteristics of Jiangnan water towns.
"Cadres and Masses Work Together" Party and Mass Cooperation to Build Beautiful Countryside
The process of promoting "Thousand Villages for Beautiful Housing" in Changshu is the process of party members, cadres, and villagers working together to lead the vast number of farmers and all sectors of society to build a beautiful home. After the completion of the village, we will actively explore the "point system" for rural governance, incorporate common problems in the improvement of rural living environment into the scope of village point assessment, implement measures such as environmental hygiene "village regulations and agreements", sign "doorstep three guarantees" responsibility agreements, and "rotation" of villagers. Trial implementation of systems such as "village butlers", "beautiful courtyards", and "beautiful vegetable gardens", and the establishment of a team of village representatives including instructors, cleaners, waterways, facilities, greening, safety, culture, etc., to promote the maintenance of a clean and tidy village environment as a conscious action of the masses.
As the village environment continues to improve, the environmental protection awareness of villagers is also constantly awakened, and the situation of "cadres working, the masses watching" is gradually changing to "cadres and the masses working together". The "Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" work not only exercises the abilities of the cadre team, but also brings the relationship between the Party and the masses closer. It truly practices the mass line and embodies the people-oriented concept everywhere.
In the construction of "Thousand Villages and Beautiful Houses", party organizations at all levels in Changshu City have led party members to play the role of "leading geese" in different ways: Xinzhuang Town has launched the "Thousand Villages and Beautiful Houses and Same Xin Yuan" Secretary Project, selected 18 outstanding young cadres from the town government to form the "Haitang Elite Team" to sink to the front line, established four action branches of "Beautiful Houses Think Tank, Public Opinion Express, Quality Supervision Radar, and Good Governance Pioneer", focused on key and difficult links of the project, and optimized service paths; Bixi Street has launched the "Bixi Road for Everyone" secretary project, providing suggestions and suggestions for scheme design, demolition and obstacle removal, village rules and regulations, and "three guarantees for hygiene" during the construction process; Zhitang Town has launched the "One Village, One Product" Secretary Project, leveraging the collective wisdom of party members, cadres, and the masses to develop a village optimization and improvement plan, covering aspects such as beautiful countryside, red vanguard, harmonious governance, civilized creation, healthy and livable, ecological agriculture, etc. Party building leads the construction of "Thousand Villages and Beautiful Houses", allowing the masses to see the scenery and even the bright red Party flag, inspiring the consciousness of loving and building their hometown.
"Walking with Multiple Legs" Helps Farmers Increase Income and Become Rich
Ludang Village, Shajiabang Town, Changshu City is the place where the true story of the drama "Shajiabang" takes place. It inherits the red gene, promotes revolutionary traditions, transforms the rich connotation of the red spirit into a powerful driving force for rural revitalization, explores a strong village and people enriching industry matrix mainly based on education and training, modern fishing, and rural tourism, and plays the "concerto" of red empowering rural revitalization. In 2021, Ludang Village was selected for the pilot work of promoting the revitalization of red village organizations and the construction of beautiful red villages by the Ministry of Finance, becoming the first red village in Suzhou city.
Here, "rich because of red" and "beautiful because of green" complement each other. In recent years, Zhang Yiyan, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Ludang Village in Shajiabang Town, has taken the "Thousand Villages Beautiful Housing" project as a starting point to promote the integration of the "Party Building Network, Governance Network, and Service Network" in Ludang Village. With spacious roads, beautiful environment, and civilized rural culture, the sense of gain and happiness of villagers has significantly improved, making Ludang Village a happy home that villagers take pride in.
This year, Ludang Village is further refining its cultural and tourism planning, combining with the construction of the Shajiabang integrated development area in Changshu, strengthening the "Ludang Fire Seed" cultural and tourism brand, building the "Ludang School", launching "Red Series" themed party classes and "Ludang Series" research projects, developing projects such as Ludang Fire Seed Experience Park, Ludang Fire Seed Campsite, boutique farmhouse entertainment, and characteristic homestays. A "Red+" rural tourism "new business card" integrating red education, characteristic agriculture, water town customs, and homestay cuisine is being created, continuously activating new energy for village level economic development.
Zhang Yiyan's choice to increase farmers' income and become prosperous is to walk on multiple legs. At the Red Home Comprehensive Service Center in Ludang Village, the "Ludang Market" is running with great success. There is a wide variety of specialty fruits available, including rice, tea, etc., which are well packaged and ready to be shipped. There are even specialty pre made foods such as fried chicken. "This is an area for concentrated display of local specialties in Ludang Village and even Shajiabang Town. We will also carry out 'agricultural assistance' live broadcasts, use 'small screens' to open up' big markets', and open up new channels for rural revitalization!" Zhang Yiyan introduced.
"It is the duty of village cadres to drive the people to become prosperous. We will further improve the village environment construction, create a 'red+' cultural and tourism model, and further explore new channels for wealth creation such as semi-finished product processing and live streaming of agricultural products, leading the people to achieve new development!" said Zhang Yiyan.
The improvement of rural living environment has injected new impetus into the development of agricultural, cultural and tourism industry. Currently, Changshu has built 13 Suzhou level shared farms, 5 Suzhou leisure agriculture boutique villages, and created 8 rural tourism routes. In 2022, it received approximately 8.4725 million tourists and achieved an annual revenue of approximately 700 million yuan. The transformation of rural houses into guest rooms and rural areas into parks has formed a new growth point for rural economic development.
Since the implementation of the "Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" work, Changshu has established a complete set of institutional mechanisms such as construction, acceptance, and long-term management. It has explored the use of "big data+Thousand Villages Beautiful Residence" and built a special system platform, so that all created data can be "ground to the ground", creating a group of distinctive, cultural, and tasteful villages, forming replicable and actionable successful experiences, and providing practical examples for building a beautiful Jiangsu.
The song "Shajiabang" has been sung to this day, "With the help of the laboring people's hands, we have painted the beautiful Jiangnan Fish and Rice Village...". Changshu, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the county being abolished and the city being established, is witnessing a series of rural transformations that are both internal and external. Beautiful rural landscapes are slowly unfolding, and new era civilization "waves" are blooming one after another. The beautiful countryside is rejuvenated with new vitality of the "beautiful economy", and the capital word "fu" has taken root in Changshu.
