2024 RT Amination Banner.gif

China Daily

Focus> In-Depth China> Content
Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 16:01
Rural planner gets 'stuck' in village
By Zhang Yi and Hu Meidong in Xiamen, Fujian
Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 16:01 By Zhang Yi and Hu Meidong in Xiamen, Fujian

Li Pei-chen has helped residents transform their home into a clean, vibrant community

Rural planner Li Pei-chen from Taiwan works at a vegetable plot in Yuanqianshe village, Fujian province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Four years ago, Li Pei-chen, a rural planner from Taiwan, was invited to join a village transformation project in Xiamen, Fujian province.

After her eight-month contract expired, she chose to stay in Yuanqianshe village, about half an hour's drive from downtown Xiamen.

"I felt I was on a business trip when I first came to Xiamen," she said. "But later I gradually became attached to the land as I met many people here who work with me to make it a better place."

The village is home to 750 residents - including about 200 young people - who used to depend on farming for a living.

Before 2014, many young people left the village for jobs as migrant workers or to start businesses in cities. Mostly only women, children and the elderly remained.

"Many fields were abandoned, and some streams were turned into gutters, with rubbish in the water," Li said, likening the village to an empty shell.

The situation was so bad that at one stage the city recommended Yuanqianshe be demolished.

Yet the village's fortunes changed in 2014, when Xiamen launched its Beautiful Xiamen strategic plan, which encourages community efforts to upgrade living places. Li said the community focus is similar to what has been happening in Taiwan.

Children from the city of Xiamen learn farming techniques from a villager in Yuanqianshe. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

A survey of the village found that several buildings dated back to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. "They are no longer habitable, but protecting old buildings is like caring for the elders in a family," Li said. "The nostalgia can connect people."

Working as the village's assistant director, she encouraged the development of rural tourism and got its jobless young people to join in.

Li and the villagers cleaned up chicken coops, pigsties, shabby toilets and gutters, collecting 500 metric tons of garbage.

They also paid special attention to making use of old things. For example, abandoned stone mills and troughs were transformed into decorative water containers in flower beds and gardens.

Old houses that are no longer habitable have been turned into community activity centers and playgrounds for children.

Abandoned plots of farmland have been turned into a "city farm", where urban residents can rent a patch of land to grow whatever crops they like. Those renting the land can farm it themselves or pay villagers to do it.

At weekends, many people living downtown bring their children to the village to work the land. That has helped create jobs, with some villagers teaching farming techniques and delivering vegetables to the city, while others make more money from their land.

Yan Deqiang, who studied logistics management in college, returned to the village after it was threatened with demolition and is now devoted to the city farm project, where he oversees vegetable deliveries.

"Now I can use what I have learned outside to help improve my hometown," he said. "We have to protect the old buildings. If everyone contributes a little bit, the village will see big progress."

Old farm tools and daily utensils are used by Li and villagers to decorate the rural community. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Li said it was also important not to ignore the potential of the young.

"Even if some are without college degrees, they still can change their lives and the destiny of the village," she said. "Their efforts saved the village from being demolished. The villagers' sense of belonging has improved a lot, and they are proud of their community now, which is the most important thing."

She said the newly vibrant village, with its fruit-laden trees, well-tended vegetable fields and clean environment, will remain in her heart forever.

After witnessing Yuanqianshe's transformation from a shabby place to a beautiful village in the past four years, Li said she had chosen to stay there.

Following in Li's footsteps, Xiamen introduced 35 new assistant village directors from Taiwan this month - all rural planners like Li.

"Local people are nice to Taiwan people, because we share the same accent and have similar eating habits," she said. "I hope the new assistant directors can also play to their strengths and talents, and bring their experiences here.

"Nowadays I often think of the rainy season in 2014, when I first set foot in Yuanqianshe," Li said. "My feet were stuck deep in mud. It took a great deal of effort to pull them out, and one of my sandal straps broke.

"The land in Yuanqianshe is so sticky that I have been 'stuck' here for four years - and maybe longer."

Contact the writers at zhangyi1@chinadaily.com.cn


Share this story