Xinhua News Agency, Jinan, April 25, Title: "Red" and "Green" Reflect the Butterfly Change in Mountain Villages in Yimeng Old Area
Sun Xiaohui and Yang Wen from Xinhua News Agency
Walk into Xiqiangyu Village, Yuandongtou Town, Yishui County, Shandong Province, which is located in the old revolutionary base area of Yimeng, and look around. Surrounded by green mountains, there are green lakes and villages with stone walls and red tiles. Entering the village from the colorful footpath, the road is wide and the houses are just like houses. Ginger and taro are planted in the terraced fields layer upon layer. There are endless tourists in the renovated farmyard.
Xiqiangyu Village is located in the hinterland of Yimeng Mountain. During the Anti Japanese War, this mountain village made an important contribution to the logistics support of the Shandong Column and the rescue of the wounded. It is a well-known "anti Japanese fortress village", but it has been poor and closed for many years. The slip of "If you have a woman, don't marry Xiqiangyu. If you have a mountain, there is no land" tells us the hardships of life here.
Talents are the key to rural revitalization. In 2018, with the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, Linyi City launched the "Returning Wild Goose Project". In 2019, Wang Chengcheng returned to his hometown through this talent recruitment plan and became the party branch secretary of Xiqiangyu Village through public selection.
West Wall Valley has beautiful scenery, but the traffic is inconvenient. Road construction is the premise to solve the dilemma. Wang Chengcheng won special funds to build asphalt roads; Peasant households in the mountains are not convenient to use water, so they dig pump wells to supply tap water; Villagers lacked places for recreational activities during their leisure time, so they installed street lamps and repaired small squares... In just a few years, Wang Chengcheng led the cadres of the "two committees" of the village and the party members and the masses to overcome many difficulties and changed Xiqiangyu Village.
The West Wall Valley has become beautiful and popular. "Guests have to solve the problem of food and accommodation when they stay. We have set up professional cooperatives to encourage villagers to set up farmhouses and homestays," Wang said.
The picture shows the homestay built by Xiqiangyu Village using the idle homestead. Photographed by Sun Xiaohui, reporter of Xinhua News Agency
It is reported that Xiqiaoyu Village, based on professional cooperatives, strives for various funds to build hydrophilic platforms, wooden plank roads, craft walls and landscape dams. At the same time, the idle homestead has been revitalized and 15 sets of high-quality homestays have been built, which are operated by a professional social team. In addition to the guaranteed rental income, the villagers can get another 5% dividend every year.
"I didn't expect that the idle old house could be exchanged for money, and the income was not low, so I was satisfied," said Zhang Zaichao, a villager in Xiqiangyu Village.
Relying on the deep red heritage, in the past two years, Xiqiangyu Village has built a village history museum, a cultural square, a red memory museum, and developed red research and study tours... "The big guy has been looking forward to the development of Xiqiangyu for many years. Relying on these red tourism industries, life will become more and more prosperous." Wang Chengcheng was full of enthusiasm.
Today, relying on red tourism resources and green ecological resources, Xiqiangyu has formed a rural characteristic industry integrating "featured homestay, red tourism, leisure and sightseeing", and has created a rural revitalization road that reflects "red" and "green". In 2023, Xiqiang Valley will attract more than 50000 people to travel and study, realizing a collective income of nearly 300000 yuan and a per capita disposable income of 28000 yuan.
