Jiangxi residents help reconstruct their villages and towns

Deng Weihua, a villager in the Dengjia village is interviewed by a reporter from China Daily website. The village is an exemplary spot for resettlement in Yiyang county, Jiangxi province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Since Jiangxi province's authorities implemented the Building a Beautiful and Neat Countryside initiative, people are littering less and not polluting rivers, Hejia village resident He Longjin said.

Instead, the East China residents are "naturally cultivating an atmosphere to encourage more to dedicate themselves to hard-work and farming instead of just hanging around,” He told China Daily website.

More than one villager said living standards have definitely improved and the entirely new look of the village makes this lunar new year the best ever. Villagers have responded to the local authority's call to "Build Your Own Beautiful Hometown" with improvements to their homes and pavilions.

The Building a Beautiful and Neat Countryside plan was initiated by the provincial government and financed and subsidized by provincial, municipal and county-level authorities, at 30%, 40% and 30%, respectively. Huang Jie, director of the Rural Work Department in Yiyang county, added that villagers are widely motivated to get involved in this plan, given the prospect of creating an elegant village environment and the detailed compensation strategy made for families and areas.

“We aim at a broader picture when we carry out the plan, like combining the design of the villages’ reconstruction with the proposal of the local tourism industry’s further development, and take targeted measures to help residents lift themselves out of poverty. For example, we encourage villagers to collect garbage and waste togethe,then hand it over to a specified spot. Staff from the village committee give them living goods in exchange,” Huang said and explained the vision of the local authority’s implementation of the plan.

The local authority of Yiyang county in Jiangxi province is processing a unified program to improve living conditions of residents in both towns and villages, which include urban and rural cleaning projects. These include projects such as construction of needed garbage incinerators, re-building shanty towns and the transformation of some qualified areas into “smart towns” that can perform to the best of their potential, both geographically and economically. A specific working team has been organized to carry out the plan.

“Staff on the working team have done their best to help me. I was worried most about the three farm cattle that I had at my previous house in the village. If I moved into the transitional shelter, then how could I take care them?” said Tang Jingen, a resident in Tangjia village, explaining why he hesitated before signing the reconstruction deal. “After I expressed my worry to the staff, they negotiated with me in time to reach a reasonable price that I could accept and then buy the cattle. That’s the reason why I could spend such a pleasant lunar new year without worry.”

Financial burdens caused by farmland being expropriated is a common problem faced by many families. Yu Jiacai, a Tangjia village farmer over 50, even planned to leave his wife and children, to seek jobs in other cities.

“My family has been in extreme poverty for a long time and I’m too anxious to find a job to support them, they’re all counting on me,” he said.

Staff reported his case to the local civil affairs bureau, which finally expanded the number of residents who could get basic income. This affected his family and even improved the payment standard for him, with an extra 20,000 yuan in subsidy money given to him, which is the most the local authority could provide under the current social assistance policy.

The special working team’s members sacrifice much time and effort to help residents with their hometown’s transformation. Jiang Ke, the director of the urban and rural plan monitoring team, insisted he keep on working, even right after he had surgery. “It’s just my responsibility. I would try my best to not let my personal situation get the working plan stuck in some phases.”