Villages offer best of both worlds

According to the Zhinan officials, the village's per capita annual income has broken 60,000 yuan, compared with a little more than 10,000 yuan in 2010.

So far, dozens of villages in Lin'an have been paired up with professional operators, with related project investment reaching 550 million yuan.

The move has generated 710 million yuan in tourism revenue and increased the incomes of villagers by 28.2 million yuan, the Lin'an district reports.

Compared with previous investors who were mainly responsible for the implementation and profitability of a project in the village, the operators focus more on the utilization of resources and the creation of multiple business types in the whole village, says Chen Weihong, deputy director of Lin'an's culture, radio, television, tourism and sports bureau.

"In the future, Lin'an will also explore and improve the village operation method in depth, and take the responsibility to tell the Lin'an story of resource capitalization in the new era, to provide references for the sustainable development of Chinese villages and the realization of common prosperity," Chen says.