SW China community closes rural-urban gap by enriching farmers' cultural, recreational lives

Just five years ago, Ye Yueqi had never dreamed of living in a storied house or participating in various cultural and entertainment activities like an urbanite would.

"There was no 'modern' house or any cultural activities for us farmers before. The only recreation was to play cards after coming back from the cornfields," said Ye, a 55-year-old farmer whose life used to be dominated by farm work.

But now Ye devotes herself to learning folk dancing in a free training class organized by a community committee.

In 2006, Ye moved to her current residence, a 7-story building in the Zhengzong Community of Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province.

Her move came as part of the local government's efforts to concentrate previously scattered rural families and "better satisfy their cultural needs."

When Ye's farmlands were expropriated by the local government for the centralized planting of cash crops, she got a new home and a smart subsidy.

"I have more time to learn and relax in folk dance class, and no longer have to sweat through a whole year for the non-profitable crops," said Ye.

In order to meet farmers' diversified cultural needs, more free training classes on traditional painting, opera and calligraphy have also been introduced in the community, Ye said.

Today, more than 3,400 farmers live in Zhengzong.

Chengdu began its coordinated urban-rural development reform in 2003, aiming to give rural residents access to public services and social welfare equal to that of urban citizens.

The local government allocates at least 200,000 yuan (31,553 U.S. dollars) annually toward improving public service facilities and social management in rural communities like Zhengzong.

To enrich the farmers' lives, Zhengzong has added features of Chinese philosophy of Confucianism in the community.

Walls of buildings are engraved with pictures depicting traditional stories on filial piety stemming from Chinese philosopher Confucius. Some parents are happy to find that their Children can recite the stories and understand their meaning.

The main street of the community is called Liren, which means "harmonious coexistence," and an activity center has been built for training classes and lectures on Chinese culture.

In September, a lecture on Chinese culture given by a vice professor from Sichuan University attracted hundreds of farmers living in the community, including 59-year-old Wang Maoqun.

"Many of the elderly farmers here can not read, but the Confucian theory and principles of how to be a good person and how to behave are inherited from one generation to another and commonly understood," said Wang.

Piety and harmony are the two most important ideas of Confucianism, and are the basic concepts mostly needed in our society, said Chen Yilin, an official of the community.

He also said conflicts among neighbors in the community have dramatically decreased since these public service facilities promoting Confucian culture were built.

Lu Xueyi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Chengdu's move narrowed the urban-rural gap in development, especially in the cultural field, and contributed to laying a firm foundation for China's comprehensive socialist construction.

Lu suggested promoting Chengdu's approach nationwide.