Current Politics Micro Observation | Why Has "Ten Million Projects" Deeply won the People's Hearts? Zhejiang | Earth | Current Politics
If we turn our gaze back to 20 years ago in Zhejiang, Qiu Lijin, the director of the Lujia Village Committee in Anji County, would not have thought of one day standing on the podium of the United Nations; The people of Jinxing Village in Kaihua County will not believe that "air can also sell for money"; Xiajiang Village in Chun'an County will not firmly write "Xiajiang Village, the place where dreams begin"
What turned these "dare not think" into reality on the land of Zhijiang was the project of "demonstration of thousands of villages and renovation of thousands of villages" presided over and advocated by Xi Jinping, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial CPC Committee in 2003.
Through 20 years of continuous exploration and practice, the "Ten Million Project" has created thousands of beautiful villages, benefited thousands of farmers, and also shown the world a beautiful future for an ancient nation.
"After walking through one village after another, every village is a garbage village; after walking through dozens of garbage villages, we finally found a demonstration village."
This is a common phenomenon in rural areas of Zhejiang in the early 21st century. At that time, 30000 out of 34000 villages in the province had poor environments.
On one hand, there are water, dirt, barren mountains, and piles of garbage in the countryside, posing a serious environmental problem and posing a threat to the health of the people.
How to improve the rural ecological environment and enhance the quality of life of farmers?
On December 15, 2002, Xi Jinping walked into Meilin Village for investigation and research.
Meilin Village is one of the 33 "model style new rural areas" in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. Here, there are also many new residential buildings, central parks, and supporting facilities such as water, electricity, and gas, with contiguous green spaces spread along a 1800 meter long village road.
Seeing that the villages are clean and tidy, the planning is orderly, and the people live and work in peace and contentment, Xi Jinping proposed to build a number of standardized, standardized, and all-round development of well-off demonstration villages and towns that are well-known in the province and even the whole country.
In May of the following year, Xi Jinping came to Tengtou Village, Fenghua, Ningbo for research.
In the past, Tengtou Village had uneven fields and roads, with a yield of only 200 per mu. Fu Qiping, the then secretary of the village party committee, talked about the changes in Tengtou Village - in 1993, a village level environmental protection committee was established in the village, and any project was first supervised by the environmental protection committee. In recent years, the environment in the village has improved, and the environmental awareness of the villagers has also increased. Everyone has spontaneously protected flowers, plants, and trees, and the green coverage rate of the entire village is nearly 70%.
After hearing this, Xi Jinping was very touched: "If a person's home is clean and the environment is good, his confidence in doing things will also increase. People change the environment, and the environment can also affect people."
He spent 118 days traveling to 11 cities, sinking to the front line, carefully inspecting each village, truly understanding the situation, identifying problems, and implementing countermeasures.
△ In June 2003, Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Zhejiang "Thousand Village Demonstration and Ten Thousand Village Renovation" work conference.
On June 5, 2003, the "Ten Million Project" was launched.
Lin Jiandong, then Secretary of the Songyang County Party Committee, recalled that rural environmental improvement was a complex process. The "Ten Million Project" started with the most urgent needs of farmers, including garbage treatment, sewage treatment, road hardening, and overall planning. Later, the scope and connotation of the improvement were continuously extended and expanded, creating many beautiful villages.
In the era of "valuing the city and neglecting the countryside" in some places, Xi Jinping insisted on taking five years to change the dirty, chaotic, scattered, and poor appearance of 10,000 villages, which shows his determination.
△ On May 25, 2006, Xi Jinping conducted a survey in Xiajiang Village, Fengshuling Town, Chun 'an County, Hangzhou City.
As the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, he personally carried out unprecedented efforts in rural environmental improvement. He emphasized that the "Ten Million Project" is an effective means of coordinating urban and rural development, promoting agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and benefiting millions of farmers. It aims to make more villages become vibrant and charming rural areas with distinctive charm.
He advocates holding an on-site meeting once a year and attending it every year during his work in Zhejiang. "The reputation of the people" is a criterion for selecting on-site meetings.
Located in Fenghua, Ningbo, Zhejiang, Tengtou Village is the first 5A level scenic spot in the country.
Over the past 20 years, from "demonstration and rectification of thousands of villages" to "exquisite and beautiful products of thousands of villages", and then to "future and common prosperity of thousands of villages", the "Ten Million Project" has developed with the upgrading of public demand.
As General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "We must find out and solve the most direct and practical interest issues that farmers are most concerned about one by one, and do not write blank checks, so that farmers' sense of gain, happiness, and security will be more substantial. More secure and more sustainable."
Jinxing Village is a small mountain village located at the source of the Qiantang River.
In the past, villagers relied on various types of chopping to make a living, with barren mountains and forests and backward economy. Since the implementation of the "Ten Million Project", Jinxing Village has gradually promoted village greening and beautification, as well as centralized garbage collection. By the beginning of 2006, Jinxing Village had become an ecological village with dense forests and lush trees, becoming one of the first comprehensive demonstration villages for a moderately prosperous society in Zhejiang.
On August 16, 2006, it was the first day after the rain.
How does air sell for money? Zheng Chuyi didn't understand the meaning of these words for a moment, but he firmly remembered them in his heart. It wasn't until more than a decade later that Zheng Chuyi suddenly realized when he saw tourists from Shanghai coming to stay in homestays in the village to breathe fresh air.
On March 16, 2023, thousands of acres of rapeseed flowers bloomed in Meirong Village, Tonglu County, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, attracting tourists to relax and enjoy the flowers.
The "Ten Million Project" starts with improving the ecological environment and changes not only the ecology.
Anqiejixi, Anji, Zhejiang, is where the concept of "green mountains and clear waters are like mountains of gold and silver" was born.
Taking advantage of the "Ten Million Project", Anjiyu Village made up its mind to shut down three stone mines and one cement factory, causing an immediate decline in the village's collective economy and people's income. Where do ordinary people go to earn money? How does the village develop? Villagers often seek advice from village officials.
On August 15, 2005, Xi Jinping came to Yu Village at the crossroads of transformation.
In the scorching summer, people are waiting for an answer in the small meeting room of the village committee.
"From Anji's name, I think of the construction of a harmonious society, the harmony between man and nature, and the transformation of economic development mode." Xi Jinping said.
He said to everyone, "When you can't have both bear's paw and fish, you need to know how to give up and choose. There are various ways to develop, and we need to take the path of sustainable development. Green waters and green mountains are like mountains of gold and silver!"
From then on, hundreds or even thousands of villages like or even more beautiful than Yu Village appeared in Anji and even throughout Zhejiang.
The Anji Yucun Mining Site in Zhejiang Province has transformed into a beautiful park.
The "Ten Million Project" has opened the path of transformation from green mountains and clear waters to golden mountains and silver mountains, driving the development chain of rural revitalization with prosperous industries and livable ecology.
Over the past 20 years, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Zhejiang has increased from 5431 yuan in 2003 to 37565 yuan in 2022. As of now, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Zhejiang has ranked first among provinces and regions in China for 38 consecutive years. 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 income gap in China.
On September 27, 2018, farmers in Zhejiang welcomed the "shining moment" - the "Ten Million Project" won the highest environmental honor of the United Nations, the "Earth Guardian Award". The award speech commented, "This extremely successful ecological restoration project demonstrates that aligning environmental protection with economic development will generate a transformative force."
On March 27, 2006, Xi Jinping published an article "Looking at the" Three Rural Issues "from the" Two Kinds of People "in the" Zhijiang Xinyu "column.
The "two types of people" mentioned in the article refer to people with two identities: urban residents and farmers. At that time, the urban-rural gap in Zhejiang was a hidden concern. People feel firsthand that the social undertakings and infrastructure construction in rural areas, such as education, culture, health, and sports, are far behind those in cities.
He deeply explained that vigorously implementing the "Thousand Village Demonstration and Ten Thousand Village Renovation" project to form a reasonable "City Town Township Village" system, forming a development pattern of "City Leading Township, Industry Promoting Agriculture, and Urban Rural Mutual Promotion and Progress", has profound historical and significant practical significance.
After a survey, he looked forward to this: "In order to achieve urban-rural integration in the future, not everyone will have to live in cities. The key is that the quality of life in rural areas is not inferior to that in cities, and everyone can share modern civilization."
△ On May 25, 2015, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited a new community in Gan Town, Dinghai District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province.
The "Ten Million Project" has taken the realization of human modernization as its starting point from the beginning, drawing a blueprint to the end. With a commitment spanning 20 years, it has written a magnificent page in the comprehensive construction of a socialist modernized country today——
In a country with a population of over 1.4 billion moving towards revival, it has raised the dreams of countless farmers for common prosperity; While changing the appearance of the village, it also changes the spiritual outlook of the villagers; In terms of developing the economy and protecting the environment, we have made the choice of "balancing human and green mountains"; On the stage of the United Nations, the story of a beautiful China was told to the world, contributing "Chinese wisdom" and "Chinese solutions".
In June 2022, overlooking Meilin Village in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, there was a vibrant scene.
Five years ago, on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the "Ten Million Project", then Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the Environmental Programme, Solheim, once said, "What I see in Pujiang and Anji, Zhejiang is the future of China, and even the future of the world."
What will China look like in the future? Everyone has different answers in their hearts, but the answers always reflect the comprehensive progress of society and the continuous improvement of people's living standards.
In the future, "allowing farmers to share the fruits of development and modern civilization" is our direction of effort and the ultimate goal that will definitely be achieved.
