Shanlian village: making farmers rich through ecological construction

Shanlian village, located in Wuxi's Xishan district, is vigorously developing leisure agriculture and rural tourism. [Photo/aheading.com]

Shanlian village, located in Wuxi's Xishan district, is vigorously developing rural tourism as a part of the rural vitalization strategy put forward by President Xi at the 19th National Congress of the CPC.

The village had around one million visitors last year, and its per capita income has reached 30,500 yuan ($4770), almost tripling in the last decade. The collective income of all Shanlian village residents reached 15.5 million yuan ($2.4 million) in 2017, 15 times higher than before the village was reformed.

With a population of more than 7,000, Shanlian village is now known variously as "Jiangsu's happiest village" and a "national-level eco-friendly village". However, it used to be listed among the province's poorest villages, with a per capita income of less than 10,000 yuan ($1,450).

Under the conditions of construction of "socialism new village", Shanlian village began taking advantage of its unique natural and human resources to develop leisure agriculture and rural tourism since 2006, when Wu Yueping served as the local Communist Party Secretary.

Wu Yueping, Party Secretary of Shanlian village, was in charge of carrying out the reform and made adjustments to numerous industries from mining to modern high-efficiency agriculture.

In order to promote itself across the nation as "Golden Shanlian", a beautiful village in harmony with nature, it began growing chrysanthemums and canola flowers, as well as Chinese yews, apples, pitayas and strawberries on a large scale.

Chrysanthemums have become part of the lifeblood of Shanlian village. Dried chrysanthemums can be steeped in hot water to make tea, and can also be used as dishes. Shanlian's chrysanthemum plantation has grown from less than 0.01 square kilometers a decade ago to roughly two square meters today.

"In addition to flowers grown for tea, we also have species used for food, medication and as bonsai plants," said Zhu Hong, NPC deputy from Shanlian village, adding that a packaged tea product made of chrysanthemums they developed jointly with Jiangnan University last year had sold much better than expected.

Zhu opened the first farm stay in Shanlian village in order to provide more dining and lodging options for tourists. Today's Shanlian has over 30 farm stays and restaurants built by villagers, as well as 13 teahouses, providing tourists with fresh, locally-grown vegetables and other traditional foods.

Shanlian village is a great example of how farmers can become rich through ecological construction. The Wuxi government will continue to promote employment for farmers and support the expansion of the rural vitalization strategy.