Fengxian villages shed light on rural revitalization
To highlight three villages in the sprawling metropolis of Shanghai is not easy, but exceptions should be made for the three villages in Fengxian District which exemplify the myriad changes in the rural revitalization drive.
The Huangpu River, as it meanders through the downtown area, flows mainly from west to east, until it reaches Xidu in Fengxian, where it suddenly turns to the north, almost at a right angle, and remains roughly in that direction before it empties into the Yangtze River.
The three villages, Xinye, Yuli and Puxiu, are all located immediately south of the river before its abrupt turn, and all are under the jurisdiction of Fengxian’s Zhuanghang Town.
As a matter of fact, they have been chosen to showcase the improved rural living environment partly as a result of their location, being close to the Mother River of Shanghai and crisscrossed by smaller tributaries.
“Their proximity to the river defines their role as the safeguard of one of the city’s major water sources, which translates into the improvement of living environments,” said Gu Lifeng, a member of Xinye Village CPC committee.
Xinye Village itself is low-altitude, boasting no less than five rivers that flow in all directions.
One river that flows through the village, the Xinye Xipai River, was once a receptacle of sewage discharged from pigsties. It became very narrow over time, which then worsened the pollution.
Thanks to the rectifications campaign in 2013, raising pigs was forbidden, the sewage stopped, and the river was widened to 6 meters, with straight concrete embankments flanked by trees.
No operational activities are allowed in the rivers, and this effectively prevents such pollutants as fodder and antibiotics used in raising aquatic products.
The river is now routinely policed by designated personnel, whose responsibility, among others, include salvaging plastic waste and fallen foliage.
The purity of the water is also ensured by the expanse of forest by the river planted for water conservation purpose.
About 3 kilometers to the east of Xinye, there is a huge tract of forest in Puxiu Village.
“Puxiu Village has relatively more such forest, given its relative longer space along the Huangpu River, while in Xinye, we have less forest, for we are home to a granary for the municipal grain reserves, which takes up about 400 meters of the length of the Huangpu River bank,” Gu said.
Gu also mentioned the jianlianghua (quantitative land reduction) imperative, essentially concerning the gradual phase out of nonessential and polluting factories, particularly those with modest tax contributions, or small plants low in technology or in efficiency.
The land thus committed would be restored for agricultural use.
Since the central government keeps close tabs on the aggregate amount of land for construction purposes, the added agricultural land would afford municipal government greater leeway in creating new construction space for prioritized industries in, say, downtown areas.
Gu went on to give a terminological clarification. “We used to talk a lot about ‘tenglong huanniao,’ or replacing the bird in the cage with another species of bird, which is chiefly about replacing a lackluster business with a more competitive entity that pays more tax, or represents an industrial upgrade,” Gu said.
“The current talk of quantitative land reduction, however, amounts to wholesale elimination, with the old factory torn down, and the land given over to farming.”
Gu then dwelt on the multiple benefits of putting up the former inhabitants in uniformly designed community. In the case of Xinye, they are in row upon row of three-storied buildings.
“In Shanghai, the certificate for land use in rural house building were given to villagers in about 1990. In spite of the many changes in the family, the certificate has remained unchanged, and renewal of the certificates could not be satisfactorily addressed without thorough investigation,” Gu said.
“So, in view of the general trend of downsizing of the rural area in the city, putting up the inhabitants in storied buildings might be part of the solution.
“Another benefit is that the reclaimed land from former peasant homes might also serve to enlarge the pool of farm land.”
“In the past, a single household might take up about 400 square meters, with 200 square meters of building space and a similar amount of courtyard space, all of which could be counted toward the addition of new agricultural land,” Gu added.
Although some peasants’ response to “going upstairs” was lukewarm initially, Gu, who also served as director for the mediation work, said a considerable portion of them found it more acceptable, especially in view of the substantial financial inducements, after some persuasion.
For instance, a household is entitled to being assigned two units in storied buildings totaling about 200 squares meters, which they could either stay in or sell. Depending on the location, the compensation could be attractive.
Gu said that elderly villagers tend to have such attachment to the soil that they would take to growing vegetables in whatever public space they could lay their hands on in the new urbanized community.
To change their habits, there is now a monthly review of each household’s compliance with the agreed-upon code of conduct in the Xinye Village compound. Qualified households are awarded a coupon which can be redeemed for 20 yuan (US$3) worth of daily necessities from a designated store in the community.
The review is conducted jointly by village cadres, property management and a wanggeyuan (a sort of social worker entrusted with the mission of tackling
various grassroots social contradictions).
During the first month of compliance checks, about 100 households did not pass muster, with problems ranging from growing vegetables in public areas, to failure to dispose properly of used and useless objects. Now the latter problem seems to predominate.
At the designated store, 86-year-old Yang Yaqin had just redeemed a bag of flour and some other necessities with her coupons.
Speaking in a dialect that is unique to the area, she explained how the coupon worked. To solicitations that her shopping might be too heavy for her, Yang kept protesting she was fully equal to its weight, and she was right.
In Yuli Village, local cadres also resort to an edition of three-character verses codifying the moral and ethical principles expected of a villager, in what is romantically known as the “beautiful village contract.”
They ranged from proper manner of conducting a funeral or wedding, to advice on giving birth to, or bringing up a child.
“These verses of agreement have been settled upon after repeated consultations with many sides, and then have been duly publicized through different channels,” said Chen Juming, first Party secretary of Yuli Village.
“The board was placed here because this is a traffic hub registering considerable number of passersby, and was also right next to a No. 2 bus line in Zhuanghang Town,” Chen explained.
There are also monthly art performance and other events aimed at driving home the message of the agreement at the “neighborhood harmony gathering space.”
The agreement also evolves over time.
Chen explained the practice in front a notice board that the first edition of the agreement was couched in a longer jingle, but had been condensed into the crispy three-character form in the current edition.