First-person: We have worked very hard to raise living standards

Chen Ping, a village cadre in Anhui province

Recently, I was woken very early in the morning by a resident who phoned to ask if I would mediate between some villagers who had come to blows over a minor issue.

When the issue was settled, I went to the village office and spent the entire day working on administrative matters, including writing testimonials to the Lyuzhai township government praising women for being good daughters-in-law. In rural areas, the relationship between mothers-and daughters-in-law is often fractious. We want to set the villagers a good example, but this is one example of how trivial village affairs can be.