Returning workers succeed at home

Increasing salary, job opportunities boost tide of rural revival

Sixteen years ago, leaving his home village of Sanyizhai in Central China's Henan province for coastal cities was the only way Sun Ming could realize his dream - to earn enough money to build a two-story house back home, where he could get married and support his agricultural family. But it is no longer the only way.

"The monthly salary in Lankao at the turn of the century was around 150 yuan ($21), whereas workers in coastal factories could earn 10 times as much," said the 32-year-old, who now runs a plant nursery in Sanyizhai, in the west of Lankao county.