20 years of persistence in one thing, the beauty of rural areas | Zhejiang Rural Project | Zhejiang | Rural
On June 4th, in Xiazhuhu Street, Deqing County, Huzhou City, there was a mountain peak where pink Persian chrysanthemums bloomed, attracting many citizens to check in and play. In recent years, Xiazhuhu Street has fully explored and leveraged local natural landscape resources and regional advantages to promote the construction of beautiful countryside. Photo by Wang Zheng, a friend
In the past 20 years, thousands of villages and townships in Zhejiang have persisted in doing one thing.
On June 5, 2003, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, personally planned, personally deployed, and personally promoted the "Thousand Village Demonstration and Ten Thousand Village Renovation" project: It took 5 years to select about 10000 villages from nearly 40000 villages in the province. The administrative villages of China have been comprehensively renovated, and about 1000 of the central villages have been built into comprehensive well-off demonstration villages.
Over the past 20 years, "10000" have been promoted to all administrative villages. Rural areas in Zhejiang have become different.
They make city people yearn for them. The attractiveness of rural areas is increasing day by day, with accessible roads, beautiful environment, healthy food, and thriving new business models. During holidays, city people love to run to the countryside because they can see the mountains, water, and remember their homesickness.
They have become a model for the whole country. The first village of online stores in China, the first ecological village in China, and the first farmer painting village in China... Zhejiang's rural areas are constantly striving towards rural revitalization, turning industrial prosperity, livable ecology, civilized rural culture, effective governance, and prosperous living into real scenes.
They have stepped onto the international stage. Whether it's getting rid of poverty or increasing farmers' income, whether it's ecological protection or traditional cultural protection, small villages in Zhejiang, once unknown, continue to voice the voice of beautiful China to the world, bringing "Chinese experience" to rural areas of various countries.
From beautiful ecology, to beautiful economy, and then to beautiful life. In the 20 years since the implementation of the "Ten Million Project", rural areas in Zhejiang have achieved countless changes and transformations; We will continue to explore tirelessly, day and night, in accelerating the integration of urban and rural development, promoting the construction of a beautiful China, and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization.
On July 28, 2020, an aerial view of Yu Village in Tianhuangping Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province. Image source CCTV network
Find the "life of longing"
Anjiyu Village, judging from the continuous flow of visitors every day, is undoubtedly the "top stream" of the countryside.
Previously, Yucun relied on mines to earn tens of thousands of yuan in daily income. However, now it is "nurturing and enriching the mountains". Coffee shops and cultural and creative shops have been built in the village. A few months ago, it was fashionable to send "hero posts" to the world, inviting experts and talents from all walks of life to bring projects to start businesses locally.
What is the future of rural areas like? There is no consensus on this issue. But what kind of future should rural areas have? The 20 year transformation of rural areas in Zhejiang presents a posture of continuous progress in Chinese rural areas.
Since the reform and opening up, rural areas in Zhejiang have taken the lead in turning their attention to industry. For a while, "villages ignite fires, households smoke", industrialization, marketization, and urbanization develop rapidly, and the economic level leaps to the forefront of the country. But the cost paid is enormous: the water in the countryside is dirty, the mountains are barren, garbage is piled up, the rural environment is severe, and the health of the people is threatened. Someone said, "There are demonstration villages in every county, and garbage villages are everywhere."
More seriously, there is a problem of prioritizing urban areas over rural areas in some areas, where rural infrastructure is backward, public services are lacking, cultural facilities are lacking, and young people are leaving one after another... The urban-rural gap is widening.
How to coordinate urban and rural development? He said earnestly, "Zhejiang farmers are rich, there are many entrepreneurs, and houses are built well. However, there is also a lot of sewage, flies, and garbage in rural Zhejiang. The problem of disharmony in the economic and social development of rural Zhejiang still exists."
On the basis of extensive and in-depth investigation and research, the "Ten Million Project" takes the remediation of the "dirty, disorderly and poor" environment as the first move, and comprehensively promotes the "Three Revolutions" of rural environment.
Someone vividly compares that at a critical moment of transformation in Zhejiang's development, the "Ten Million Project" is the wrench that allows trains to change lanes and tracks. Pulling it down is actually a transformation and reshaping of development concepts and models.
Along the way, the "Ten Million Project" has brought about a qualitative change in the appearance of villages in Zhejiang, a huge change in the habits of villagers, and a transformation in the economic development model. Stories of "beautiful transformation" can be found everywhere:
The Jinhua Pujiang River is cutting off pollution from the crystal industry, leaving no trace of the Black and Stinky River or the Milk River; Taizhou Xianju has transformed from a "chemical river" into the "most beautiful mother river", and the ecological greenway connects mountains, waters, and countryside.
On September 27, 2018, the "Ten Million Project" was awarded the highest environmental honor of the United Nations, the "Earth Guardian Award". The award speech reads: "This extremely successful ecological restoration project demonstrates that aligning environmental protection with economic development will generate transformative forces."
This force has already won the hearts of thousands of people. The "Ten Million Project" has hit the "key small things" that the people are most aware of and care about. Once launched, it has been widely welcomed by the farmers and is known as the "most popular and beneficial practical thing that the Party and government have done for farmers since the implementation of the household contract responsibility system.".
This popular project has leveraged innovation in various fields, restoring the beautiful scenery of Jiangnan water towns in the past. At present, Zhejiang Province plans to retain a 100% coverage rate for the treatment of domestic sewage in villages, achieve basic "zero growth" and "zero landfill" of rural household waste, fully cover rural sanitary toilets, and have an average of three rural public toilets in each administrative village. In 2019, it became the first province in China to pass the national ecological province inspection.
Jiaxing Railway Station after aerial photography renovation and expansion
Make up for the shortcomings behind the average
Starting with ecology, but not limited to ecology, the "Ten Million Project" has opened up a great and profound practice of urban-rural coordination.
A round trip between Jiaxing Railway Station and Fengqiao Town in Nanhu District, with a bus route 101 shuttling between urban and rural areas.
Focusing on the issue of imbalanced and insufficient development, Zhejiang has become the earliest province in China to issue and implement the urban-rural integration plan through the systematic promotion of the "Ten Million Project". From breaking the registered residence barrier of urban and rural migration, to realizing the equalization of public services, to endowing rural elements with market value... people, money and goods flow freely between urban and rural areas, changing the traditional relationship between urban and rural workers and farmers.
Back then, Route 101 still runs through the urban and rural areas of Jiaxing. However, now there are new landscapes in the urban and rural areas of Zhejiang Province - the acceleration of urban and rural infrastructure with the same standards and network, the realization of the same minimum living guarantee for urban and rural areas, and the leading level of equalization of basic public services in the country... As of now, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Zhejiang has been the first in the country for 38 consecutive years, and the income gap between urban and rural residents has narrowed from 2.43 to 1.90 in the past 20 years, making it the province with the smallest gap in the country.
Following the path of the "Ten Million Project" until now, Zhejiang is still striving to make up for the shortcomings behind the average. Adhering to the goal of building a demonstration zone for common prosperity through high-quality development, Zhejiang Province carried out two batches of 378 future rural construction projects last year, with a focus on building future rural areas and building modern basic units for common prosperity.
Improving and expanding the quality of rural public services is one of the key areas of exploration.
The elderly in Xikou Village, Longyou County can enjoy free meals at the village cafeteria by brushing their faces. Their health and safety are constantly monitored by family doctors through digital connections;
Children around Meilin Village in Xiaoshan District can attend the most popular LEGO, painting, recitation, and host courses at the village level Youth Palace.
At present, the first batch of "one elderly and one small" service scenarios in urban and rural communities in the province have achieved coverage of standard facilities such as home-based elderly care service centers, elderly canteens, and village clinics. Public service resources such as education and medical care are continuously optimized. Zhejiang will also improve the level of rural social security such as major disease protection, and promote high-quality development of rural areas in mountainous and island counties.
Gu Yikang, former deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Agriculture Office, personally witnessed the launch and implementation of the "Ten Million Project". He believes that "the core of the" Ten Million Project "is the practice of the new development concept, which also means that it has replicable and promotable significance, providing experience and demonstration for rural revitalization and the construction of a beautiful China."
Songyang County Sidu Township Xikeng Village "Yunshan Residence" Homestay. Photographed by friend Jiang Xiaodong
Opening up the Rural Era
It is impossible to achieve success in rural areas overnight. For many years, there has been a consensus among cadres and the masses who have personally experienced the "Ten Million Project": the key to the continuous promotion of the "Ten Million Project" is not to focus solely on one village, not to elevate the public's appetite, not to mention goals beyond the development stage, and not to blindly copy the urban construction model.
According to the blueprint drawn by the general secretary, the previous provincial Party committees and provincial governments of Zhejiang Province have made contributions for a long time. According to the highest specifications in the province, the on-site promotion meeting of "ten million projects" has been held for 19 consecutive years, and an action plan and relevant policy opinions have been issued every five years, so as to promote the continuous deepening and gradual progress of "ten million projects--
From 2003 to 2010, the "Thousand Village Demonstration and Ten Thousand Village Renovation" demonstration led the way, mainly focusing on the comprehensive improvement of the village environment, promoting a cleaner and more orderly rural area.
From 2011 to 2020, the promotion of "Thousand Villages of Fine Products and Ten Thousand Villages of Beauty" was deepened, with a focus on the construction of beautiful rural areas, promoting more beautiful and livable rural areas.
At different stages, the enduring mission of the "Ten Million Project" is to "solve problems" and find the most suitable answers for rural development. Standing at the forefront of China's urban-rural integration development, Zhejiang has placed the "Ten Million Project" at a higher level and in a larger context, closely integrating urban and rural construction, urbanization, and farmer citizenship.
Starting from 2021, the "Ten Million Project" has entered a new stage of iterative upgrading of "Thousand Villages for the Future, and Ten Thousand Villages for Common Prosperity", with a focus on improving the matching degree of rural industries, the completeness of infrastructure, the convenience of public services, and the integration degree of urban and rural development; Starting from 2023, Zhejiang Province proposes a "dual wheel drive" of new urbanization and rural revitalization, combining improving the carrying capacity of county towns with deepening the "Ten Million Project".
The implementation of the "Ten Million Project" becomes increasingly difficult to tackle as we move forward.
Planning first, freeing up new space for rural development. Zhejiang continues to deepen the "multi regulatory integration" reform, reducing the total number of administrative villages from 40000 in 2003 to 19700 in 2021. This year, it is proposed to encourage the formulation of cross village "multi planning and integration" plans, encouraging farmers to carry out comprehensive land consolidation on a voluntary basis and activate element resources.
Strengthening the village and enriching the people have given new impetus to village construction. Zhejiang Province has established the concept of managing villages, organically combining the development of a beautiful economy with the growth of village level collective economy, deepening the integrated reform of strengthening villages and enriching the people in rural areas, and playing a "combination punch". We strive to make administrative villages with annual income of over 300000 yuan and operating income of over 150000 yuan in the province account for over 90% this year.
More and more rural areas are redefining the value of rural areas.
Songyang, one of the areas with the most concentrated traditional villages in the Yangtze River Delta region, is not in a hurry to make rural areas look like cities. Instead, they implement traditional village protection projects and "save old houses" actions, and a large number of old houses are repaired and transformed into boutique homestays, artist studios, and rural museums.
In Yiwu, the locals have a lively business mindset. Agricultural makers and rural professional managers appear in the countryside. They start businesses in the old factory buildings and idle farmhouses in the village, providing villagers with new rental dividends and employment opportunities
In the grand proposition of the times, Zhejiang's rural areas have made 20 years of efforts to transform "dirty, chaotic, and poor" into "strong, rich, and beautiful", marking the historical contribution of the "Ten Million Project" to the development of agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in Zhejiang and even China. The scattered changes here reflect the great transformation of millions of farmers in the world's largest developing country working together to build a beautiful home.
For 20 years, we are still full of expectations for the "Ten Million Project", and we continue to strive non-stop!
