Lechang, Guangdong: "Red Army Fields" Have Become "Fields of Prosperity"
Lechang in Guangdong was the last stop of the Red Army's Long March through Guangdong. In November 1934, the Red Army entered the Wushan area of Lechang, overcame numerous difficulties, broke through the third blockade line set up by the enemy there, and continued to advance.
Decades later, the Red Army spirit still shines on the road of the people of Lechang shaking off poverty and striving for a moderately prosperous life. The "Xinghuo Ecological Agriculture Professional Cooperative" in Shangli Village, Wushan Town, Lechang, is a microcosm of this.
A gentle breeze blows, and rice waves roll. Walking along the field paths of the Wushan terraces, visitors stroll in small groups, streams flow freely between them, white clouds wreathe the distant mountains, and an idyllic ecological picture unfolds before the eyes. Relying on these terraces, villagers in 7 local natural villages have increased their annual income by tens of thousands of yuan. The "Red Army Fields" have become "Fields of Prosperity," all thanks to the "Wushan Terraces Farmland Owner" project launched by Chen Baixiong.
"The elders told us Red Army stories from childhood. Influenced by the Red Army spirit, I also hoped to contribute to the development of my hometown." Chen Baixiong, head of the Xinghuo Ecological Agriculture Professional Cooperative, is from Shixia Village, Wushan Town. He left his hometown in 1996 to work in the Pearl River Delta. When he returned home in 2013, he saw thousands of mu of abandoned farmland on the mountains and the poverty-stricken situation. Chen Baixiong, then only 37 years old, was deeply saddened and resolutely decided to give up his well-paid job in the big city and return home to start a business.
In 2014, Chen Baixiong rented more than 300 mu of abandoned farmland in 5 natural villages of Shixia, reclaimed the wasteland into terraces, and planted rice on these terraces. From then on, the beautiful terraces took on a new look. Having accumulated rich market operation experience while working elsewhere, Chen Baixiong subsequently established the Lechang Wushan Town Xinghuo Ecological Agriculture Professional Cooperative and began to revitalize agriculture by combining the Internet with local advantageous resources.
The "Wushan Terraces Farmland Owner" project leases terraces to residents of the Pearl River Delta, names the terraces "Farmland Owner" after the renter's online name, and sets up name plates for each. In this way, Pearl River Delta residents pay to rent the fields and pay local villagers to plant and manage the terraces, so local villagers can get well-paid job opportunities in their hometown, while the farmland owners can obtain reliable green rice.
Chen Baixiong told an Economic Daily reporter that villagers lease their land to the cooperative and can get 150 yuan per mu per month in land rent; by taking part in cooperative planting work, they earn a monthly wage of 2,000 yuan; as the Wushan terraces become increasingly famous, more and more tourists come attracted by their reputation, and local agricultural product prices and sales have reached new highs. Sweet potatoes that originally sold for 0.5 yuan per jin now sell for 2 yuan. If agritainment and homestay inns are also opened, some villagers can increase their annual income by thirty thousand to forty thousand yuan.
The precious wealth left by the Red Army does not stop there. Wushan Town is a famous "hometown of moso bamboo" in northern Guangdong, but for a long time the economic value utilization rate of moso bamboo was low. Local veteran Zhang Qiuhua, inspired by the Red Army's use of bamboo to hold water and wine in those years, poured brewed high-quality rice wine into the cavities of naturally growing moso bamboo, allowing the wine to fully absorb the bamboo's moisture and nutrients. He innovatively developed a bamboo tube wine industry and led villagers onto the road of shaking off poverty and becoming prosperous with a new model.
As early as 2013, Lechang City proposed a "blood-making" poverty alleviation model driven by "cooperative + base + farmer households" to develop characteristic industries. By 2015, Lechang City had formed advantageous industrial belts of 220,000 mu of high-quality grain, 50,000 mu of pollution-free vegetables, 115,000 mu of high-quality fruit, 13,000 mu of water chestnuts, 17,000 mu of taro, and 18,000 mu of yellow tobacco, realizing an industrialization development model led by agricultural bases.
Driving away from Wushan Town, small hydropower stations for water storage and power generation can be seen from time to time in the river valleys beside the mountain roads. Zhang Guangrun, Party secretary of Wushan Town, told reporters: "Our town has a good ecological environment, with a forest coverage rate as high as 93%. A total of 56 small hydropower stations have been built on the 4 small rivers passing through, with a total installed capacity of 14,000 kilowatts and an annual output value as high as 120 million yuan, providing important support for villagers' employment and collective economic development."
"See the mountains, see the water, and remember the nostalgia." Embracing mountains of gold and silver amid green mountains and clear waters, this is a true portrayal of Lechang, a small city in northern Guangdong. Back then, the Red Army's "spark of a prairie fire" let the people of Lechang see the hope of rising up to become masters of their own fate; today, carrying forward the Long March spirit, the people of Lechang have ignited the passion for shaking off poverty and starting businesses, and are striving forward on the broad road to prosperity and a moderately prosperous life.