In the vast expanse of Heilongjiang’s black soil, rural areas are undergoing remarkable transformations. Take Nangang Village in Lianhuanhu Town, Dorbod Mongol Autonomous County as an example. Once a provincial-level poverty-stricken village plagued by infertile land and a poor economy, it has now become the home of the AAAA-level Garidi Scenic Area.
AAAAA Scenic Spot Blossoming in a Poor Village
In 2017, the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism’s resident working team arrived in Nangang Village. They recognized the village’s potential in rural tourism due to its beautiful natural scenery by Xihulu Lake. Over the next few months, more than 10 projects, including scenic road construction, flower field planting, and beach grooming, were completed. The Garidi Scenic Area opened for trial operation in July 2018, receiving over 20,000 tourists and generating a tourism income of more than 2 million yuan that year.
However, as time went on, the single type of tourism products and lack of promotion restricted the scenic area’s development. The working team then strived to upgrade the scenic area. They secured 4 million yuan in special funds within two years for infrastructure renewal. Additionally, they assisted the county’s tourism department in obtaining more than 6 million yuan in construction and event funds for various tourism projects, such as the Aviation Camping Carnival and the Cold-water Fish Winter Fishing Season. Among these, the Winter Fishing Festival has become a signature event. With a large scale and profound influence, the Garidi Scenic Area has been designated as the permanent venue for the province’s “Winter Fishing Ceremony.” On the day of the event, 600,000 catties of cold-water fish were sold through e-commerce direct sales and offline purchases, with a sales volume of up to 9 million yuan. In 2022, the Garidi Scenic Area was promoted to an AAAA-level scenic area. The flourishing development of the scenic area has brought new business opportunities to the surrounding villagers. For instance, Zhou Haisheng, a low-income villager, was encouraged by the working team to open a farmhouse. With the team’s guidance in house decoration and dish research and development, his business is now booming.
After seven years of construction and development, the Garidi Scenic Area has continuously expanded in scale and improved its facilities. It can receive up to 100,000 tourists annually, driving tourism income of 20 million yuan. The village collective dividend and villagers’ income from business and labor services reach 1.2 million yuan. In 2024, the per capita income of poverty alleviation households in Nangang Village exceeded 15,000 yuan, 2.7 times higher than in 2017.
“Beautiful Economy” Beautifying Kaoshan Village
In Kaoshan Village, Kuoshan Township, Suiling County, Heilongjiang Province, a once poverty-stricken village, is now thriving with the “beautiful economy.” The Heilongjiang Provincial Government Offices Administration’s resident working team, since its arrival in 2015, has transformed a piece of wasteland at the village entrance. They discovered that the village, adjacent to the Nuomin River, had fertile soil and a suitable climate for the flower industry. With the support of three levels of government (provincial, municipal, and county), a 6,000-square-meter flower base was established in 2017. It includes a seedling-raising greenhouse with a sprinkler irrigation system and six plastic greenhouses using water and fertilizer integration technology. Ten varieties of flowers, such as begonias and salvias, are cultivated here.
This year is the ninth year of the flower poverty alleviation project in Kaoshan Village. The project has developed from simple flower cultivation to a large-scale and diversified industrial system. The flowers produced in the base, including begonias, petunias, and marigolds, are sold well in Harbin, Suihua, and other places for urban greening. The flower base now produces 1 million plants annually, bringing an income of 200,000 yuan to the village collective. It also provides jobs for more than 40 villagers, with monthly salaries ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 yuan.
The “beautiful economy” has activated the spring water of rural revitalization. The working team has further adjusted the agricultural industrial structure, promoted the construction of a characteristic fruit and vegetable plantation, explored the direction of refined agricultural planting, and tapped the potential of cherries and green fruit and vegetable foods. They have also established an e-commerce service center, which not only promotes the development of Kaoshan Village but also radiates to the sales of agricultural products in the whole county, enabling local products such as wild vegetables and sticky bean buns to reach a wider market.
Integral System “Exchanging” for Civilized Trends and Small Villages Connecting to the Big Market
Integral “Exchanging” for Civilized Trends
In Qixin Village, Shaowen Township, Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province, a rural governance innovation practice with “small integrals” has been carried out. In the past, villagers were not enthusiastic about participating in environmental improvement and volunteer service activities. In 2018, the village began to build an integral management system. At first, the village cadres and grid members promoted it door to door and organized villagers’ morning exercises, distributing boiled eggs on the spot to publicize the integral system. Gradually, villagers began to understand and accept it.
The village has set up seven aspects of content, including “rural environment improvement, filial piety and respect for the elderly, civilization and law-abiding, helping the poor and disabled, honesty and trustworthiness, family education, and volunteer service,” and refined the integral standards. The integral can be consumed directly in the cafeteria or in the integral supermarket, with 1 integral equivalent to 1 yuan, and the relevant expenses are paid by the village collective. The implementation of the integral system has stimulated villagers’ enthusiasm for participating in rural governance. The village’s appearance has taken on a new look, and neighborhood disputes have significantly decreased. More importantly, the village’s public welfare expenditures have been saved year by year.
Villagers can earn points by participating in various activities. For example, a villager can get 2 points for participating in a volunteer activity, 2 points for keeping the village house clean, and 2 points for mediating neighborhood disputes. Many villagers can get more than 1,000 points a year. The integral cafeteria has also become an important position for changing customs. The village advocates that villagers hold weddings and funerals here, with a cap on the cost per table. Villagers who abide by the regulations will be rewarded with points, effectively curbing the bad habits of extravagance and waste.
“Huddling Together for Warmth” Connecting Small Villages to the Big Market
In Limin Village, Xinfa Township, Yi’an County, Heilongjiang Province, the Heilongjiang Earthquake Agency’s resident working team has led the establishment of the “521+N” resident working team alliance in Yi’an County. In the past, the village mainly relied on traditional planting, and with a quarter of the permanent population being poor, the weak industrial foundation and narrow sales channels restricted its development. In 2022, under the leadership of the resident working team, 8 resident working teams in Yi’an County jointly established the alliance. Now, it has grown to 67 teams.
The alliance actively participates in various annual exhibitions, such as the National Agricultural Fair, the Heilongjiang Superior Products Promotion Conference, the Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, and the Shenzhen Agricultural Products Exhibition. They run projects and seek cooperation across the country to promote Yi’an’s brands. They have also explored a three-dimensional sales model of “offline stores + e-commerce sales.” Online, they rely on the “assisting farmers live broadcast room” of the resident working team members, and offline, they rely on the province’s first direct sales store for assisting farmers’ products to promote more than 100 special agricultural products in 6 major series, such as grains, Yi’an geese. Since 2024, the cumulative sales volume has reached 12 million yuan.
The alliance also gives full play to the talent advantages of the resident working team members. With the help of Harbin University of Commerce, they have established Heilongjiang Cunnong Food Co., Ltd. and Heilongjiang Minchuang E-commerce Company platform, and jointly created public brands such as the “Yian Banmuyuan Youxuan” mall and “Cunnongcun.” Through resource integration, the “521+N” resident working team alliance has transformed resident assistance from single assistance to joint assistance and from individual efforts to win-win cooperation. Different teams have contributed in different ways, such as promoting the goose industry project, providing free inspection for agricultural products, innovating the medical assistance model, and coordinating scientific and technological services.
Building a Strong Village Party Branch: The Core of Rural Revitalization
Strengthening the Party Branch to Promote Industrial Prosperity
In Rendong Village, Dongfeng Town, Hailun City, Heilongjiang Province, the village Party branch, which was once weak and lax, has been transformed. The Heilongjiang Provincial Public Security Department’s resident working team in Rendong Village, with the belief that “building a good Party branch is more important than giving money and materials,” has made great efforts to promote the standardization of the village Party organization. Under the leadership of the Party organization, 8 poverty alleviation households have increased their per capita annual income by more than 5,000 yuan through crayfish farming. People’s livelihood projects such as 4.5 kilometers of asphalt roads and 276 solar street lights have been implemented one after another, and the village’s appearance has taken on a new look.
The Party branch’s strength leads to industrial prosperity. The working team and the village “two committees” have tailored characteristic industrial chains according to local conditions. The village now has a series of industries, including cherry picking, bullfrog farming, crayfish breeding, and a winery. “Now is the cherry-ripening season, and almost every day, there are tourists coming to visit, order, and pick,” said Qu Weijun, the secretary of the village Party branch. The small but beautiful collective industries have led Rendong Village onto the road to prosperity.
Party Building in Ethnic Minority Villages: Coacervate All Ethnic Groups
In Bayantala Village, Bayanchagan Township, Dorbod Mongol Autonomous County, the “Red Pomegranate” activity center, built by the working team, has become a “red magnetic field” that coacervating all ethnic groups. The center is equipped with activity rooms, a science and technology museum, a library, and other facilities, and has become a comprehensive activity place for people of all ethnic groups in the village to study, exercise, and entertain.
“Bayantala Village is an ethnic minority village, and resident assistance here has its particularities. Strengthening Party building guidance and further strengthening the publicity and education work of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation are crucial,” said Zhao Jiandang, the secretary of the Party branch of Bayantala Village dispatched by the Heilongjiang Provincial Ethnic and Religious Affairs Commission. The resident working team has promoted the standardization of public discussions by the village “two committees” and formulated the “Management Measures for Party Members Working Away from Home” to ensure that mobile Party members “do not leave the Party even when they leave their hometowns.” They have integrated the publicity and education of forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation into the details of Party building work.
Party building “soft power” has become the “hard support” for development. In the past two years, 39 industrial assistance projects have been implemented in the village. The annual income of the village collective has exceeded 1 million yuan, and the annual per capita income of villagers has reached 19,200 yuan. This small village, which was once listed as a backward village due to the weak cohesion of the Party organization, has now become a provincial-level demonstration unit for national unity and progress.
Over the past decade, Heilongjiang Province has dispatched 5 batches of resident cadres, about 20,000 person-times, to 3,336 villages, including more than 3,000 Party branch secretaries. In 2024, the resident cadres in the province coordinated 790 million yuan in support funds, promoted an increase of more than 100 million yuan in the income of village collective economies, and drove an increase of nearly 100 million yuan in the income of farmers. The strong and continuous efforts in rural work have painted a magnificent picture of rural revitalization in Heilongjiang.
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