Profiles

Chen Suhou: From vice governor to farmer

By Jessie Tao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-12-29 14:58

The first thing he did after returning to his hometown was help build Songhai Village into a civilized ecological village, getting rid of the village's dirty, tumultuous, and messy appearance. In the past, there was no toilet in the village, and pigs were pastured, leaving pig waste everywhere. Compounded with poverty, the village became the last choice for unmarried girls. In fact, as time went by, the village turned into a "bachelors' village."

Although Chen wanted to help, it never has been easy to build a village into a civilized ecological one, just as it is difficult to get the farmers of any locality to change their ideology. With no other choice, Chen had to talk to the villagers, household by household.

A corner of a local farmer's courtyard. [Xinhua]

As told by Chen, local villagers used to use a nearby mountain as a public toilet, and no one thought a washing room in the back of his or her own home necessary. But encouraged by Chen, every family got its own toilet, except for the household of a man named Chen Fengzhang. However, problems emerged when his son got married, as all the guests, including the bride, had to use the neighbor's toilet. Then, persuaded by Chen Suhou, the villager finally changed his idea, and built two toilets.

Another headache for Chen was the scattered rubbish seen everywhere in the village. To settle the problem, Chen thought of the rubbish wagons in the city. He went to the downtown, requiring local environment-protection authorities to send rubbish-collecting wagons to the countryside, which would be paid by the village. Therefore, with an annual fee of 15 yuan (US$1.81), the villagers had their own rubbish-collection wagons and now they only have to place their rubbish in front of their door every evening.

As a former government official, Chen Suhou knows too well the importance of road construction, and he has largely attributed his hometown's poverty and lagging behind to inconvenient transportation. Realizing this, Chen began to embark on his third job -- to help the village build roads and bridges. Chen used every means to get the money for such construction -- grants from the government, sponsorship by business owners, and contribution by local villagers. In retrospect, Chen said, "I claimed to do something for the farmers, but in fact I am largely a facilitator." Nowadays, thanks to Chen, Songhai Village can be reached from all directions, with one 5-meter-wide ring road leading to every household and another to the fields.