First Party secretary drives rural revitalization in Hainan village

On a recent morning, Zheng Xianming, first Party secretary of Jiatang village in Nanlyu town, Tunchang county, south China's Hainan Province, surveyed rows of "Space Lotus No. 36" shoots growing in a pond.

The lotus, a product of aerospace breeding, was planted just last winter and has already reached the water's surface.

"Around the May Day holiday, they will be flowering and fruiting," he said. "This year will show whether the 500-plus mu (33.33 hectares) of lotus ponds can truly take off."

Zheng Xianming works alongside villagers in Jiatang village, Nanlyu town, Tunchang county, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo by Wu Zuhai, rendered as an oil painting with AI enhancement)

Zheng arrived in June 2024 as the village's first Party secretary, dispatched by the Hainan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, where he had overseen farmland development. He found a village of more than 3,200 people with a weak collective economy.

One long-standing headache was a cluster of fishponds covering 62.5 mu that had sat idle for years. Previous arrangements had seen them leased informally at a total rent of just 360,000 yuan ($52,300) under decades-long contracts. Zheng pushed to change that. By putting the ponds up for open bidding through a rural property rights exchange center, the dormant asset fetched 1.05 million yuan at auction.

"That money gave our village its initial capital," said Wu Hong, the village's Party branch secretary.

Drawing on his professional background, Zheng drove the consolidation of fragmented plots into larger fields, then used the momentum to set up an agricultural machinery service team. The fleet of 10 machines quickly became a sought-after resource, not only working Jiatang's land but also taking on jobs in neighboring Qionghai and Wenchang, generating more than 200,000 yuan last year.

"In the past, farmers here grew ordinary rice and got about 1.8 yuan per kilogram. After deducting labor and fertilizer costs, there was barely anything left," Zheng said. The introduction of the space lotus has changed the equation. Gross income per mu reaches 2,970 yuan, with net profit approaching 2,000 yuan after deducting costs, he noted.

The village has also partnered with a company to launch a Jiatang rice brand, with the company guaranteeing a purchase price of 3 yuan per kilogram for fresh, wet, unhusked rice.

Last year, the village introduced a co-culture model of rice and Australian red claw crayfish, with the village providing land and a partner company supplying expertise — sharing both risks and returns. Orders for premium rice continued to grow steadily. In 2025, the village collective's annual income exceeded 2 million yuan.

At the village entrance, construction crews are working at pace on a new project. A cafe suspended above a lotus pond is expected to be completed in June.

"We will promote agritourism and build the cafe, which will inject more vitality into the village," Zheng said.