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Nanjie fights against all odds for a cause

By Hu Yinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-18 08:45

"It's very nice working here. I don't have to think about a lot of things because most things are taken care of," she says. "Out there (outside the village), it's a messy world."

To some extent, Nanjie's economy depends on the 6,000 migrant workers (excluding the 3,000 honorary residents) like Ni, many of who have settled down in the village. These migrant workers - an overwhelming number of them women - are employed mostly in the village's factories, restaurants, museum, hotel and the tourism firm.

A receptionist, in a modified 1960s costume, stands against Chairman Mao Zedong's famous inscription "Serve the people" in Nanjie's only hotel. [China Daily]

Non-Nanjie residents even hold some key posts. Sheng Ganyu, director of the weekly Nanjiecun News, is one. Having spent 12 years in Nanjie, Sheng is also responsible for dealing with the media and feels proud of his experience.

"The amazing thing about Nanjie is it's home to about 600 people who have gone to or are still in college. Thirty of them have master's degrees, and one of them has a doctorate," Sheng says. "The village provides tuition fees and travel expenses for all of them, but has never forced any of them to return. People come back only if they want to; there's no obligation attached. Now, how many villages have that kind of confidence?"

People pedal past a huge statue of Mao Zedong in Nanjie. [AFP]

The Li siblings have returned for the most realistic reasons - a good pay with welfare and the comfort of staying at home. Li Chongyang graduated from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University this summer and works in the village's pharmaceutical firm for 800 yuan a month. The village paid all her tuition fees, more than 6,000 yuan in the first year and about 5,000 yuan each for the rest of the three years.

"There's no place like home," Chongyang says. "All my classmates envied me the money the village gives you is like the money your parents give you And I don't feel much of a difference between here and Shenyang."

Chongyang is one of the five Nanjie youths who went to Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in 2004, and all but one have returned.

Her elder brother Li Yanfu, too, has returned after earning a diploma from the Beijing Printing Institute. An employee with the Sino-Japanese joint venture Naikeda color-printing firm, Yanfu got married at an annual group wedding on Oct 1. He has been allotted a new two-bedroom apartment, which he will move into soon.

A guide at the village's archive tells visitors (not in picture) the history of Nanjie. [China Daily]

But unlike most senior residents, Yanfu says it depends whether he will live in the village all his life. "Right now, I'm here because there's not much pressure, and I can learn the things I would have outside the village. And I think it's time I paid something back to Nanjie."

Nanjie villagers watch the standard 42 channels, including the Nanjie channel that telecasts a 30-minute program every Saturday night. Most of the villagers are Internet surfers, curious to know about the world outside as much as it is about them.

Very few, though, know about the recent farmland reform. But then, the younger generation doesn't have the same sense about land as rural youngsters elsewhere. Unlike most other villages, farm workers in Nanjie aren't afraid that their children will sell the land one day if the policy allows it. Chongyang's instant reaction to the news is enlightening: "What, land? We've been working the land together forever."

 

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