Village official helps boost rural revitalization in SW China’s Yunnan

A village official has helped boost rural revitalization in a village in southwest China’s Yunnan Province by inheriting an intangible cultural heritage item and developing various industries.

Zhang Yudong, 46, is the head of Jila village, Zhongcun township, Lufeng city, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan. He has been working in the village for 13 years. The official is also a representative inheritor of the dragon dance, a prefecture-level intangible cultural heritage item.

Zhang Yudong teaches children the dragon dance in Jila village, Zhongcun township, Lufeng city, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Zhang said that the village’s dragon dance team was selected by Yunnan and competed at the second National Sports Festival of China in Mianyang city, southwest China’s Sichuan Province in May 2002. The team made a name for themselves at the event by taking sixth place among over 30 teams. In the succeeding years, the team took part in seven competitions and achieved outstanding results.

Since 2007, the team has seldom participated in competitions for various reasons, but team members have always taught young villagers and students in the village’s primary school to perform the dragon dance. “Members of our team began teaching the dragon dance to primary school students in 2004,” said Zhang.

In addition to the inheritance of the dragon dance, how to lead villagers to prosperity has been foremost in Zhang’s mind. “Thanks to the sustained implementation of the country’s poverty alleviation measures and rural revitalization strategy, our village has developed various industries, and villagers have lived a better life,” the official told People’s Daily Online, explaining that the per capita disposable income of villagers reached 13,600 yuan ($1,961) in 2022.

Tourists catch fish in a rice field in Jila village, Zhongcun township, Lufeng city, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

In 2022, Jila village raised fish in 870 mu (58 hectares) of rice fields. The rice-fish farming enabled villagers to earn extra income while attracting visitors to fish-catching activities. According to Zhang, fish raised in rice fields brought in over 600,000 yuan last year.

The village has also developed other industries like pea planting, broad bean planting, and rapeseed planting. Last year, the village planted peas, broad beans, and rapeseeds on 672 mu, 572 mu, and over 1,370 mu of land, respectively, with the average output value of the crops reaching over 1,400 yuan, approaching 1,500 yuan, and exceeding 1,600 yuan, respectively. “Rapeseed flowers also attracted visitors,” Zhang said.

During this year’s Spring Festival holiday, the village organized the traditional games of ethnic minorities, attracting throngs of visitors.

“Thanks to the improved transport infrastructure, Jila village has become a destination for short-distance tours of citizens in the provincial capital Kunming on weekends and holidays, which has offered a great opportunity for the village to develop rural tourism,” Zhang said. The official aims to develop farmland-based sightseeing tourism this year.

According to Zhang, the village will coordinate the development of traditional culture and economic development to advance rural revitalization across the board.

Photo shows rapeseed flower fields in Jila village, Zhongcun township, Lufeng city, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China’s Yunnan Province. (People’s Daily Online/Hu Zunhui)