The Xihe River originates from the Yangtian Lake of Qitianling Mountains in Beihu District and flows through Guiyang County, Yongxing County, Beihu District, Suxian District and 54 villages. The river has a total length of nearly 150 kilometers and about 1 million people live in the basin area.
Earlier this year, the local government of Chenzhou City introduced a three-year action plan to develop the area along the Xihe River into a demonstration belt of rural revitalization across the country.
Integrated development of agriculture and tourism and local products
The workers in the vegetable planting base of Zhongzhihui Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. in Shishantou Village, Huatang Town, Beihu District are busy with picking, packing and loading the vegetables such as Chinese mahogany and broccoli.
This planting base is certificated by the “vegetable basket” project in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and it has provided over 3.5 million kilograms of fresh vegetables to Chenzhou City and the Greater Bay Area this year, with sales of over 15 million yuan.
Beihu District promotes the local products, focusing on the development of the tobacco-rice rotation in Tonghe, pomelos in Liyuan, black rice and cattle in Maoping as well as vegetables and strawberries in Wushan.
A number of bases have been built including Xiangjiangyuan Vegetable Base, Lvzhiran Mushroom Planting Base and New Hope Tonghe Pig Farm. 21 bases have also been established for the “vegetable basket” in the Greater Bay Area.
There are 12 agricultural enterprises, each of which can generate the annual output value of more than 10 million yuan.
The district reached strategic cooperation in production and marketing with wholesale markets such as “Zhongnongpi" and "Haijixing", and the value of agricultural products sold to the Greater Bay Area last year amounted to more than 500 million yuan.
Xihe Village of Xiangyindu Sub-district, Yongxing County along the Xihe River is making efforts to develop rural tourism and it can attract 200,000 visitors a year by holding a rural tourism cultural festival.
Chaoyang Village of Zhenghe Town, Guiyang County has launched a countryside project integrating recycling agriculture, creative agriculture and farming experience, highlighting the integrated development of red culture education, cultural tourism and rural revitalization.
Moreover, Wazao Village of Qifengdu Town, Suxian District, relying on Fengxidu fish noodles, has introduced a local company to build an industrial base integrating culture, tourism and agriculture.
At present, all 54 villages along the river have developed their own special industries, with an annual per capita income of more than 20,000 yuan last year.
Construction of beautiful houses
Youtang Village of Xiangyindu Sub-district, Yongxing County boasts enchanting landscape.
To improve the living environment, the local authorities has demolished 650 latrines as well as over 800 pig pens and utility rooms. Small gardens, orchards and walkways have been built in villagers’ courtyards, making the village more livable and beautiful.
At the beginning of this year, Chenzhou launched a project called “beautiful houses” to improve the living environment in the Xihe River. It has determined 10 projects and carried out special improvement actions such as improving the rural living environment, standardizing the construction of villagers’ houses and cleaning the rivers and lakes.
Guiyang County has collected 100 million yuan of funds from several aspects including agriculture and rural areas, rural revitalization, transportation and water conservancy, and leveraged more than 170 million yuan of social capital to invest in the construction of rural revitalization demonstration belt this year.
Suxian District has invested 21 million yuan to improve the living environment of 15 villages along the river. Beihu District has also carried out actions in 10 villages along the river.
Currently, the construction of 34 beautiful houses and 30 green villages along the river is in full swing, and 43 models of beautiful villages at and above the county level have been established.
Improvement of customs as well as social etiquette and civility
In April of this year, Wazao Village in Suxian District opened a “morality point bank” where villagers could exchange the points they accumulated in their bank accounts for household items.
According to the rules, villagers can win points from 40 types of behavior in 7 aspects, such as law-abiding, loyalty and filial piety, honesty and hard work.
At the same time, they will lose points due to 32 kinds of behavior in 7 aspects. This initiative aims to encourage villagers to lead a virtuous life.
In order to facilitate better governance of the countryside along the river, Chenzhou City has explored and improved the rural governance system of "Party building + self-governance, rule of morality, law and wisdom". It has not only built a civilized village and a new era civilization practice station, but also improved the customs and cultivated social etiquette and civility.
