Shandong's Linyi city extends rural residential land reforms

Lanling county in Linyi city – located in East China's Shandong province – has deepened its reforms of rural residential land, in order to drive economic growth in the countryside, local media reported.

Previously a poverty-stricken village with dilapidated houses, the county's Nanmatou village has now become a bustling tourist destination, with rows of charming villas and farmhouse lodges.

The village has established a land development cooperative to encourage locals to buy in as an investor through their unused residential land and dilapidated houses – and subsequently focused on developing its homestay sector.  

Great views: Attractive homestays in Lanling county. [Photo by Xu Cheng and Liu Yihao for chinadaily.com.cn]

The cooperative has appointed a tourism company to be responsible for investing in building homestays and operations and their management. A 10 percent annual profit from the company is returned to the cooperative, to be used for the village's collective income.

To date, the village has demolished 25 dilapidated residential buildings and built 14 homestays – generating a cumulative collective income increase of over 300,000 yuan ($41,668).

The establishment of Moxuan Clothing Co Ltd in Dongtuanhou village has also benefited from the rural residential land reforms. Its premises were built on the original idle land of the village's health center office.

Since its establishment, the company has given more than 300 people jobs. The village collective has increased its annual income by 50,000 yuan, while the average annual income of the villagers has increased by more than 20,000 yuan.

So far, 17 townships in Lanling county have undergone repurposing of idle homesteads – building 21 poverty alleviation workshops, 25 tourism homestays and premises for 102 small and micro enterprises. (Edited by Chen Chuxuan)

Moxuan Clothing Co allows villagers to work on site. [Photo by Xu Cheng and Liu Yihao for chinadaily.com.cn]