[New Village of a Big Country: Following the Footprint of the General Secretary] Yongtai, Fujian: Landscape is Green, People are Blessed Yongtai County | Village | Fujian

The nation must be revitalized, and the countryside must be revitalized.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the new situation and progress in rural revitalization across the country, the People's Forum website has innovatively launched a series of reports on "Great Country New Villages: Following the Footprints of General Secretary", with the aim of telling the story of the revitalization of the vast rural areas in China. Today, let's walk into Yongtai County, Fujian Province and experience the new countryside here.

Walking on the land of Eternal Yang, natural mountains and clear waters. Yongtai is located in the southwest corner of Fuzhou, and has been awarded the first batch of national ecological civilization construction demonstration counties in China, and the only one in Fujian that has been included in the national key county construction pilot for beautiful countryside.In recent years, Yongtai County has taken the construction of key counties for rural revitalization in Fujian Province as an opportunity, combined with the actual situation of the county, and taken the construction of demonstration pilot counties for promoting rural grassroots party building in Fujian Province as a starting point. It has strengthened its ecological and green advantages, highlighted cultural and tourism pilot demonstrations, and led the construction of "demonstration counties for comprehensive rural revitalization" with high-quality party building, striving to create a model for rural revitalization in Yongtai.

We see that a good ecological environment has brought the most inclusive welfare to Yongtai's people. Once a provincial-level poverty-stricken county, now Butterfly has become the "ecological backyard" of the provincial capital Fuzhou; Once hidden in the depths of the boudoir, it has now become the most beautiful green business card on the land of the Eight Min region.

Jukou Village: Guarding Green Waters and Mountains, Embarking on a New Path of Rural Revitalization

More than 30 years ago, Yongtai was the only provincial-level poverty-stricken county in Fuzhou, and transportation was inconvenient. It took a day to travel between Yongtai and Fuzhou, and there was also a need for a ferry. Jukou Village is located in Tangqian Town, Yongtai, Fuzhou, with a forest area of 31600 acres. It is one of the administrative villages with the largest forest area in Tangqian Township. However, the cultivated land is only 278 acres, with less than one acre per person. By farming, the villagers cannot eat enough.

For over 30 years, Jukou Village has been guarding the green mountains and waters, and under the guidance of the Party branch, continuously exploring the path of rural development. Play a good role in defending the blue sky, clear water, and pure land, be a strong defender of green ecology, and strengthen the development of rural tourism through the cooperation led by the Party branch. Based on geographical advantages, promote the symbiosis of agriculture and tourism, and strive to create a new model of rural revitalization where "green water and green mountains are as valuable as gold and silver".

Green Water and Green Mountains - Jukou Witness Hall

"Under the leadership of the Party branch, the Juxi Valley Agricultural Professional Cooperative was established in March last year. Currently, there are more than 300 villagers from 136 households in Jukou Village, all of whom have become shareholders." Yu Xinren, the first secretary of the Jukou Village Party branch, said that with the guidance and support of the higher-level Party committee, the pilot Party branch of Jukou Village led the establishment of cooperatives last year, introduced characteristic industries, driven the development of village level collective economy, and led the people to increase income and become prosperous. It is understood that the cooperative has established a council composed of members of the party branch, youth representatives, and village representatives, followed by a supervisory board composed of party members, local elites, and others. "The village collective invests in resources and assets, accounting for 30% of the total, while villagers invest with funds. If calculated based on the current annual profit of 3 million yuan, 70% of the dividends will be distributed to shareholders and 30% will be distributed to the village collective based on the proportion of shares. The remaining 70% of the profits from the village collective will also be distributed to all villagers, and villagers who usually work in scenic areas will also receive salary income."

Juxi Scenic Area

Jukou Village is just a microcosm of Yongtai County's promotion of rural revitalization through the development of characteristic industries. In the next step, Yongtai County will strengthen the cultivation and development of characteristic industries, create a "common prosperity alliance" for the integration of agriculture and tourism, and strive to achieve 90% of villages with annual collective economic income of over 200000 yuan through industrial development.

"Industrial revitalization is the top priority of rural revitalization, and promoting rural revitalization through the development of characteristic industries can not only provide sustainable development paths for rural areas, but also better develop and strengthen village collective economy." Lin Wenfeng, the Minister of Organization of Yongtai County Committee, introduced that Yongtai County, based on the actual situation of each village's economic foundation, location characteristics, resource conditions, etc., implements "one village, one policy", and continuously explores and improves 15 types of collective economic development models in 5 categories. At present, Jukou Village is focusing on the theme of "Green Mountains and Rivers, Jukou Witnessing", doing a good job in "landscape". Through the village party branch leading the cooperative, companies are introduced to invest in the construction of wild luxury campsites supporting the Juxi Scenic Area, constructing vegetable picking gardens, and increasing the collective economic income of the village by at least 270000 yuan annually.

It is understood that Yongtai has carried out pilot projects in 14 villages of three townships, including wutong, Songkou and Dayang, comprehensively promoting the pilot work of village party organizations leading cooperatives, adopting project management and classification. The first batch of 13 county-level pilot projects and 20 township pilot cooperative projects have been identified in 21 townships and towns at different levels, and promoted by three development modes, namely, independent operation, cooperative operation with enterprises, and foreign contracting operation. Among them, the cooperative of Daxi Village in Songkou Town leased and transferred vacant land under the forest, created a Lingzhi Experience Park, and promoted the participation of left behind villagers and surplus labor in planting and maintenance in Daxi Village. At the same time, it planned and constructed kiwifruit picking areas, agricultural experience areas, etc., achieving deep integration of the agricultural and tourism industry, and increasing income for both the village collective and the people; The Central Village Party Committee of Fudou Village in Changqing Town has established a Fudou Agricultural and Forestry Professional Cooperative, guiding three member villages, including Fudou, Shangyang, and Nanwei, to jointly establish a joint consultation mechanism for bamboo planting, management, and logging. They will raise funds to establish a bamboo factory, drive the employment of 30 surplus rural laborers, and promote the common improvement and growth of the village collective economy.

In order to solve prominent problems such as difficulties and high financing costs for ordinary farmers and small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises, as well as difficulties in mortgage loans for agricultural assets, Yongtai County took the lead in launching the construction of the "Party Building+Finance" credit system for agriculture, rural areas, and farmers in the province in early 2022, building a credit financing platform led by the government, jointly built by multiple parties, recognized by standards, shared achievements, and benefiting the people. As of June 2022, we have successfully connected 1882 credit loans and granted 119 million yuan through the platform, introducing more financial vitality and injecting stronger financial momentum into the revitalization of rural industries.

Qiuyan Village: Innovative Models Boost Rural Industrial Revitalization

Yongtai County covers an area of 2241 square kilometers, with 21 townships and 255 administrative villages under its jurisdiction. There are a total of 282 rural grassroots party organizations in the county... Each village has different situations, how can we achieve coordinated development?

Qiuyan Village is another typical case of rural development in Yongtai.

Qiuyan Farm

In September 2020, Lin Baojin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee, came to Qiuyan Village. He pointed out that the key to rural development is driven by leading enterprises, and we must adhere to adapting measures to local conditions and circumstances, mobilize the enthusiasm of villagers, develop characteristic industries, and do a good job in cultural and tourism, in order to achieve increased income, prosperity, and a more beautiful countryside. Afterwards, Yongtai County innovatively established a "service team+working group+cooperative" model, linking the working mechanism with rural revitalization funds and projects.

Qiuyan Village adheres to the guidance of party building and takes the opportunity of rural revitalization and development. In just over two years, it has planned and generated 10 revitalization projects, including the Chuxin Hall, party building cultural theme park, and red culture training center, to create a red research and learning industry; Introduce the "Good Farm" group to build the first modern green ecological agricultural sightseeing park along the Dazhangxi River, and continuously explore new methods and paths for rural revitalization.

Qiuyan Village Chuxin Hall

From point to surface, comprehensive development. Lin Wenfeng, the Minister of Organization of Yongtai County Committee, introduced that Yongtai County is exploring a regional collaborative development mechanism under the leadership of party organizations. Based on the construction of "Central Village Party Committees", it has optimized and adjusted the establishment of 38 Central Village Party Committees, covering 128 villages and 4397 party members. The annual operating income of all village collectives exceeds 100000 yuan, and the economic income of 85 village collectives exceeds 200000 yuan.

These central village party committees focus on guiding township party committees to optimize the daily management and operation mechanism of central village party committees, building a regional party building leading rural revitalization linkage system, achieving resource sharing, complementary advantages, and common development. "Now, we have cultivated and formed regional industrial alliances such as Changqing Fudou Phyllostachys pubescens, Chixi Reservoir breeding, Chengfeng Taiyuan Plum Blossom Blossom Processing, wutong Songkou Agricultural Tourism, Tong'an Dayang Village Tourism, Baiyun Danyun Traditional Chinese Medicine Planting, Linglu Chixi Leisure Picking and other five characteristic industrial belts in the county," said Lin Wenfeng.

Rural revitalization requires both the driving force of central villages and the driving force of weak villages. Yongtai County has established a special support fund for the development of collective economy in weak villages. Through the construction of property and other projects, it entrusts state-owned or collective enterprises with scale and strength to carry out capital market-oriented operations, ensuring stable returns for participating villages. Since 2018, the county finance has invested 24.9 million yuan in supporting projects and coordinated the implementation of 221 village collective economic development projects.

From the paired development of the "Central Village Party Committee+Weak Villages", to a larger level of resource integration in the entire county, Yongtai County is laying out a larger chess game. Yongtai County Party Secretary Lei Lianming stated that Yongtai County has taken the lead in exploring the construction of a rural property rights transfer service system in Fuzhou City. It has built a digital comprehensive service platform that combines government leadership, marketization, and public welfare, integrating functions such as information release, resource trading, financial support, and supervision and management, forming a full process service system for rural resources to assets, assets to capital, and capital to capital.

"At present, there are over 2000 high-quality asset resources available for circulation, with an estimated total value of 7.5 billion yuan." Lei Lianming introduced that the platform focuses on breaking through the barriers of mutual recognition among "finance, government, and financial institutions", expanding financing channels for "agriculture, rural areas, and farmers", and achieving the preservation and value increase of rural collective assets. "It will continue to expand the benefits of villagers and effectively activate new drivers of green development."

Attracting talents and talents to add vitality to rural development

"Adhere to the work requirements of 'five level secretaries focusing on rural revitalization', continuously improve the system and mechanism of the Party's leadership in 'agriculture, rural areas, and farmers' work, transform the political and organizational advantages of the Party into revitalization advantages, and gather a work trend of joint management, multi-party participation, hard work, and long-term achievements from all levels in the county." Lei Lianming introduced that Yongtai County takes the creation of a demonstration county for grassroots party building to' promote the whole township and improve the whole county 'as the starting point, strengthens the' five major measures', fully utilizes the organizational advantages, functions, and strength of village level organizations, and strengthens the fortress of rural revitalization.

Choosing a good person, leading a good village, selecting the best and strengthening the "two committees" team, can significantly enhance cohesion and combat effectiveness. In 2021, Yongtai County took the lead in completing the village committee election in the province, achieving 100% "shoulder to shoulder". In terms of the comparison of the indicators of the leadership, there was a clear "rise and fall": compared with the previous term, the proportion of members of the leadership with high school or above education increased by 25.4 percentage points, including 198 undergraduate students, 3 master's students, and the proportion of party organization secretaries with college or above education increased by 22 percentage points, reaching 148; The proportion of economically capable individuals has increased by 20.6 percentage points; The average age of team members and party organization secretaries has decreased by 5.4 and 2.4 years, respectively. Thirteen post-90s were elected as "shoulder to shoulder" candidates.

More noteworthy is that Yongtai County, taking the opportunity of the change of the village "two committees", has brought back 981 original, returning, and new villagers, with one outsider elected as the "shoulder to shoulder" and two outsider elected as village committee members. For example, by activating service platforms such as "Yongtai County 001 Rural Maker Space", more than 30 young entrepreneurs who have returned to their hometowns have been attracted to participate in the construction of their hometowns. A group of young talent representatives have emerged, including Lin Lulu, the party representative of the 12th Party Congress of the city and the party branch secretary of Longxiang Village in Songkou Town. By leveraging the roles of "local experts", "Tian Xiucai", and "township makers", a total of 319 county-level science and technology special envoys have been selected, and 360 new agricultural operating entities have been selected as agricultural technology demonstrations, inspiring practical talents in rural areas to leverage their expertise and serve the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry.

Attracting people is crucial, but attracting intelligence is more important. In 2017, the Yongtai County Rural Revitalization Foundation, the first social organization rooted in the county and focused on poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, was established in the local area. As of the end of 2022, it has trained more than 23000 rural makers, supported and incubated more than 80 rural entrepreneurship projects, and promoted more than 3000 rural employment. In 2018, Yongtai County established the first county-level rural revitalization research institute in China, and built a team of 40 expert committee members and 10 frontline practical teams for "theory+practice". Building a cultural exchange platform between Fujian and Taiwan in Songkou Town, introducing a design and operation team from Fujian and Taiwan to participate in the development of the ancient town, and attracting 185 young entrepreneurs returning to their hometowns. At the same time, 20 design units or studios, including Tsinghua Tongheng, Jinan University, and Southeast Rural Construction, were selected nationwide to provide accompanying design services such as resident and on-site visits, attracting experts and professors from Peking University, Fudan University, and other universities to contract traditional villages in Yongtai.

In the future, Yongtai County will keep in mind the instructions of General Secretary and focus on the development of "two coming and two going", singing "mountain songs" and painting "landscape paintings" well. To develop comprehensive tourism, strengthen the cultural and tourism economy, consolidate the guarantee of the entire tourism chain elements, and strive to attract tourists by creating flagship projects such as Geling National Tourist Resort, Qingyun Mountain, Yunding 5A Scenic Area, and the "Zhangxi Gallery" Rural Revitalization Demonstration Belt; Develop composite formats such as "camping+", "hot spring+", and "exploration+", build boutique camping sites, promote the creation of high star hot spring hotels such as Junlan, Xiangmila, and Guanjing, expand and strengthen brands such as "Yongtai Scallion Cake" and "Yongtai Fuquan Sheep", enhance the tourism experience, and keep tourists. Establishing the public brand of "Yongtai Hometown Good Goods", expanding the "Agricultural e-Mail" platform, connecting logistics links, and selling products; Create a high-quality tourism route of "village+village", build a love town of Aijingzhuang, protect and inherit intangible cultural heritage such as mountain grape vine weaving, tiger boxing, Yongtai folk song, and "push out" the brand, and strive tirelessly to build a green development pilot area of Chinese path to modernization.

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