Chongqing- China has praised Chongqing's leadership four years in a row due to remarkable achievements in revitalizing rural industries and improving the rural living environment. These include but aren't limited to a toilet revolution, digital management, and an enviable artist hamlet.

99% of household garbage is treated effectively

Managing and maintaining the facilities of the rural living environment remains a crux in many countries globally. With no exception, Zheng Chenghua, a resident of Hehua village in Chongqing's Banan District, had trouble rebuilding sanitary toilets in his home.

Last October, Zheng and his family got rid of a poor earth closet toilet system made with one door plank and two bricks after the village toilet revitalization. However, a new problem struck before long.

"The toilet drains were clogged during Spring Festival," said Zheng. As he failed to dredge it, he had no choice but to ask Li Hong for help, the village's Secretary of the Party Committee.

In March, Li pasted a door plate with a QR code on Zheng's gate, the "Service on the Code" system, a digital management service platform for Chongqing's rural household toilet revolution. When he scanned this QR code, he told Zheng that maintenance personnel would come to repair it.

According to Li, the "Service on the Code" system was specially developed by the Chongqing Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee regarding the management and protection of rural household toilets, which contains the basic information of the villagers before and after rebuilding sanitary toilets. Meanwhile, it can push that information to the town and village cadres for the first time.

After Zheng scanned the QR code to fill in the maintenance information, maintenance personnel came for inspection and repair that morning, and the toilet leakage problem was solved in only half an hour.

The "Service on the Code" system epitomizes rural living environment regulation and management. Until now, Chongqing has established a four-level rural garbage collection, transportation, and treatment system, including "household collection, village collection, township cleaning, and regional treatment."

The effective treatment rate of rural household garbage reaches up to 99%, and more than 40% of villages have participated in the establishment of municipal garbage classification demonstration villages.

Farmers' average income increased by 3,600 yuan

Sanhe (Three Rivers) village in Fengwen Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing, located in the hinterland of Jinyun Mountain, is named after the convergence of the Shillong River, Linjia River, and Gaoqiao River within its border.

During the years' campaign to improve the rural living environment, tremendous changes have occurred in Sanhe village. However, the villagers are still unwilling to return to make a living due to the lack of industrial driving force.

At the suggestion of Li Qian, the former first Secretary of Sanhe village, at the end of 2019, the committees of Sanhe village combined the advantages of the adjacent Chongqing University Town to develop the cultural and creative industry as a pillar industry and jointly build an "artist hamlet."

Over two years of efforts, 26 enterprises have settled in Sanhe village, among which 14 enterprises, including Jinquanshao and Jinglanran, have started their business. The collective income of Sanhe village has reached 615,000 yuan (approx. 91,856 U.S. Dollars), and the average income of farmers has increased by more than 3,600 yuan.

Meanwhile, Sanhe village has been first awarded the titles of "Beautiful and Livable Village" and "Chongqing Rural Tourism Demonstration Village" and has become a model village in Shapingba District's "Zhongliang - Gele - Fengwen" rural revitalization demonstration belt.

In combination with the rural living environment improvement, many villages in Chongqing build industrial or art villages, rural tourism, and other characteristic villages and find a way to effectively integrate rural living environment renovation with the comprehensive promotion of rural revitalization based on their advantages, turning the beautiful environment into "beautiful economy."

(Zheng Yixiao, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)