Caijiawa -- Socialist New Countryside

Caijiawa – Socialist New Countryside

By CHEN SIJIA

Construction of a modern new village is underway at Caijiawa.

    IN this village everyone over 60 gets an old-age pension and farming is no longer the only way of making a living. People use ATM smart cards to draw out their wages, year-end bonus or stock market dividends. There are no "overnight millionaires" here and no abject poor. The village has trodden the road of prosperity for all. It is Caijiawa Village, in the mountainous Miyun County northeast of Beijing.

    Caijiawa (population 2,600 in 800 households) is four kilometers east of the county seat and 500 meters from the Mujiayu exit of the Beijing-Chengde Expressway. Its 1,333-hectare area is bounded by mountains to the east and south, and by the Chaohe River to the west. Despite being rich in natural resources, prior to 2003 Caijiawa's economy was very weak: a number of village-run enterprises suffered heavy losses and collapsed like dominoes. Most villagers just scraped by on their little patch of farmland. During the drought years from 2001 to 2003, not a single grain was reaped from the parched fields. The housing was old – dating back to the 1950s in some cases – and in poor repair; the potholed roads were a total mess, covering you "in dust on sunny days and in mud on rainy days," as a local saying puts it.

    But within the short span of seven years, Caijiawa has been transformed. It has emerged from poverty as an affluent community whose wealth is known far and wide. Today, Caijiawa looks more like a town than a village and you have to look hard to see any large stretch of farmland. But the more "townified" feel comes without the rush and noise of the city. In its industrialization and urbanization process, an eco-socialist new countryside has taken shape.

    Gone are the cramped single-story houses. In their place stand spacious and bright new multi-stories. Beautiful garden communities have sprung up, providing 200,000 square meters of living accommodation. Each dwelling comes ready to occupy, with fit-out, flooring, lighting and decoration all paid for by the local government.

    These days the quality of life for Caijiawa villagers differs little from that of urbanites. Seniors have retirement insurance; the village children are bussed to school; there's a new healthcare center and access to drinking water. Rather than leaving home to find casual work, the villagers can find suitable work close to home. This better standard of living – not that far from an urban dream – came from a committed effort directed to industrial development, economic growth and the common weal.

    In 2003, a new head official of Caijiawa Village was elected. This was Wang Dalin, an open-minded self-made man, one ready to innovate. Starting with a bank loan of RMB 50,000, Wang Dalin had launched his own business in 1992, gradually becoming a successful businessman, an RMB billionaire.

    Determined to help his fellow villagers improve their lot, Wang Dalin stepped aside from his business interests and ran for election. Using his own business management experience, Wang rode the wave of agricultural development. He organized the transfer of land-use rights from individual farmers to the village itself, on the principle of voluntary participation, compensation and safeguarding the villagers' interests. Now the farmlands and mountain areas are managed intensively by the village entity.

    Under his leadership the village has created a good eco-environment, developed a modern "metro-agriculture" and increased the added value of its farm products. Fragmented plots of farmland and mountain area resources owned by different families have been joined up and the villagers have developed local-specialty products to draw in visitors.

    Cherry orchards have been planted and P.Y.O. gardens offer visitors hands-on picking of fruits and vegetables in every season. Then there are 54 hectares of hothouses cosseting tropical fruits, vegetables and flowers; medicinal plants for use in foods and toiletries are planted below the fruit trees; there is the tourist magnet of Butterfly Valley, where thousands of different butterflies are bred. In Caijiawa, traditional farming has been turned into a multi-faceted industry, a mix of farming, leisure tourism, P.Y.O., as well as hospitality facilities. The outcome has been a big increase in villagers' incomes.

    Drawing on its collective capital the village bought shares in 12 companies; this cooperation attracted them to set up operations in the 27-hectare Caijiawa Industrial District, where downstream processing of subsidiary agricultural products has become a major money-spinner. Farmers process the local fruits, vegetables, fungi and soybeans on a large scale. Here tourists can witness the process and sample the delicious finished products. The "make it-see it-taste it-buy it" formula has proved a new tourist draw and a boost for local industry.

    Its ambitions do not stop here. Caijiawa plans to become a leisure resort, encouraging famous enterprises to construct leisure parks, luxury hotels, convention centers and apartments within its boundaries, making a new destination for green tourism northeast of Beijing.

    "Without industry, all talk of a new countryside would be empty rhetoric. I couldn't let this out-of-the-way spot remain in grinding poverty," explained Wang. Transplanting his business methods into village reconstruction, Wang has put all of his energies into the project, even though his own business interests have suffered financially from his absence. His reward is to see village lives changing for the better.

    A quick summary shows what Caijiawa has already achieved: a new agriculture district with an area of 333 hectares; investment in a sight-seeing industrial park of 27 hectares; 96 percent of its villagers in new homes; average net income per capita of RMB 20,000; village revenue of RMB 150 million; and collective capital exceeding RMB 400 million (all 2009 figures). Future plans include investing RMB 6 billion into an 87-hectare eco-resort.