Veteran leads the way to rural prosperity in Linyi

Lu Mingxing, Party chief of Chenjiazhuangzi village and a retired soldier, has made it his life's mission to uplift the village and its locals in Linyi's Hedong district, Shandong province.

Chenjiazhuangzi was once famous for its hardware manufacturing industry in the late 1980s. However, due to the poor governance of village officials, this pillar industry, as well as the collective economy, gradually declined over the last two decades.

Lu was entrusted with a mission to revitalize the village at a critical and difficult moment. He led his colleagues to build and upgrade roads, renovate dilapidated houses, and dredge water channels, so as to improve the village's infrastructure.

Lu also led the village to revitalize its hardware manufacturing industry by creating an association, collecting suggestions from people of various walks of life, and seeking investment in the sector to realize industrial upgrading.

Lu is a symbol of the district's efforts to create a team of veterans that will engage in grassroots governance and help villagers increase their income. (Edited by Xue Xinyi)

A lotus planting cooperative in Linyi, Shandong province. [Photo by Liu Yao for chinadaily.com.cn]

Veteran volunteers make sticky rice dumplings, or zongzi for the village collective. [Photo by Qiao Yanan for chinadaily.com.cn]

A tomato planting base in Linyi's Hedong district. [Photo by Qiao Yanan for chinadaily.com.cn]