Cities and Villages under Transformation

By staff reporter ZHU HONG

LU Jiuming hums a Sichuanese folk song as he wanders in the early morning through the grounds of his new home， Strawberry Garden New Village. “My dream of living an urban life has finally come true，” 60-year-old Lu says as he happily surveys his home. Formerly a resident of Nantiansi Village， Hejiang Township in Shuangliu County of Chengdu， capital city of Sichuan Province， Lu is a satisfied customer of both the supermarket and the store near his new home that sells reliable agricultural goods. He also occasionally calls in at the local clinic.

This village epitomizes Chengdus urbanization process. Reforms that started in 2003 have dramatically changed infrastructure， industrial structure， system planning and public services， closing the urban/rural income gap in line with present ideological patterns.

New Village

Last year， 408 households， including Lu Jiumings family， moved into the newly built Strawberry Garden New Village. In sharp contrast to their former adobe dwellings， each two-storied house has a modern living room， kitchen and bathroom with natural gas-powered hot and cold running water， and bedrooms. Their new furnishings also include a large-screen LCD TV.

When asked about the origins of the new villages name， Lu smiled and explained that growing strawberries had enriched the whole village， especially in recent years since the setting up of winter strawberry growing cooperatives. Their efforts have enabled local residents to modernize and live like urban residents.

Over the past several years， Chengdu has encouraged farmers meeting the required threshold to move to towns or to new resident-friendly rural communities. Lu Jiuming is among those that have spent a few thousand yuan on a new home there. Lu Jiumings land is now used for intensive farming for which he receives compensation every year. His son and daughter-in-law work in Shuangliu County and each earns monthly salary of RMB 3，000. Lu receives a pension and has medical insurance.

The new village infrastructure includes new roads and a well-planned electricity， communications and biogas supply to Strawberry Garden residents， as well as a public service station， a medical and healthcare center， a cultural activity center and reading rooms.“Staff at the village community center help us with our applications for pensions， social security and medical care，” Chariman of Nantiansi Village Li Jun told China Today.

Modern Agriculture

Nantiansi Village now has three winter strawberry cooperatives. Among them， Shida is the most successful. Established in 2007， its 1，890 workers cultivate and wholesale strawberries. Decades of strawberry growing experience have enabled cooperative boss Yan Shide to expand growing scale. He and neighboring farmers now make a profit of RMB 20，000 per mu （one mu equals 1/15 hectare）.

The cooperatives pattern of operation has standardized the planting and growing of winter strawberries from individual farms to a centralized scale operation. “We have unified the choice of agricultural goods， planting techniques， packaging， marketing and branding， and have expanded the market throughout the country，” Yan said.

Many strawberry growers， including Lu Jiuming， are favorable of the cooperative-growing baseindividual farmer pattern. Lu began growing the fruit in 1998， and still remembers the trials and tributions of strawberry selling. “When the market was good， I could make RMB 7，000 to 8，000 from just one mu， but when it was bad， Id be lucky to earn a few hundred yuan.” Lu can still recall the hardship of those days.“I had to carry strawberries on a pole up and down mountain paths， and finding buyers was not easy.”

To ensure the benefits of each individual farmer， the cooperatives would buy strawberries from them at a price one or two yuan higher than the market price， even when the market was not at its best. They also offered farmers technical support.

“Chateau Lafite Rothschild is a well-acclaimed wine in the Bordeaux region. As the producing area can be guaranteed， high quality has led to the brands fame. I hope that one day our Shuangliu strawberries will have a similar reputation，” Yan Shide said.

His cooperative now has a detailed strawberry farming record. A barcode on each package gives customers information on growing time， type of strawberry， techniques applied， and grower data. “We have set up a website specifically to promote our strawberries. Our cooperatives have acquired the organic certificate that is the laissez-passer to the high-end market，” Yan said.

Lu Jiuming said of these Yan Shide-like types， “They are much better at both growing technique and marketing than us.” But Yan confessed that his marketing knowledge came from attending classes for professional managers over the past few years. He believes that modern agriculture relies both on technical savvy and strong marketing.

Industrialization

During the Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu this year， Flextronics International Ltd set up its production in the Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone. President of the companys global operations Francois Barbier is enthusiastic about the citys ample pool of skilled talents， strong product supply chains and government support. They were instrumental in the companys setting up there of a machine-manufacturing factory.

“When we signed the contract with the economic development zone last year， the company was still way out in the wilds with no transportation and no production team. But during the past six months the factory has been set up and equipped with personnel and equipment， and newly built roads now lead to its gate，”Barbier said.

The Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone has played the central role in Chengdus new energy industry.

As Zhu Heping， deputy chief of the Bureau of Economy and Information in Shuangliu County， pointed out， two key zones have been established to make the best use of land and infrastructure through industrialization and intensive development. The Southwest Airport Economic Development Zone is one of them.

“Such integrated industrialization is beneficial to the development of industrial clusters. Many companies have observed this and set up operations here，”director of the Research Office of the Administrative Committee of the zone Xiong Jun remarked.

The zone has attracted 357 industrial projects， including 14 of the Fortune Global 500 companies and 26 listed companies.

“After establishing factories， setting up the tertiary industry will be more convenient. A new industrial section covering finance， catering， hotels， entertainment， and shopping is under construction. And whole-area wi-fi coverage is expected soon in the economic development zone，” Zhu said.

Professor Jiang Xiaoping of the Research Institute for Chengdu Scientific Development of Sichuan University highly commends Chengdus industrial and agricultural planning， balanced urban and rural development and exploration of rural issues in the new era.