Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
Opinion
Home / Opinion / Kang Bing

Heilongjiang village shows tradition and business can balance

By Kang Bing | China Daily | Updated: 2024-08-27 07:24
Share
Share - WeChat
Tourists play at Harbin Ice Snow World in Heilongjiang province on Aug 13. [SHAO GUOLIANG/FOR CHINA DAILY]

I was sitting in a packed shuttle van traveling from Zhuaji village to Fuyuan city of Heilongjiang province. Having stayed in Fuyuan city's Zhuaji village — known as China's easternmost village — for a few days to escape Beijing's hot summer, I had boarded the village shuttle for Fuyuan, the closest city for both sightseeing and shopping.

The other seven passengers on the van were all villagers. They belonged to different ethnic minority groups including Hezhe, Han and Manchu, but they all spoke fluent Mandarin with a local accent, though. During the one-hour journey, we engaged in a friendly conversation, especially after they learned that I was a retired journalist from Beijing.

One of the villagers was carrying a few bags of vegetables to sell in the city market in the hope of getting a better price. Another villager was visiting the city to join his relatives for tomb sweeping for his late parents while the others planned to buy parts to fix their boats for the fishing season starting September. They seemed happy about the development projects in their village, especially about the ongoing work on a modern farming project for a cost of 700 million yuan ($98.25 million), as well as a sewage-treatment plant, and a heating plant to serve the village.

Hezhe is one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China with a population of a little more than 5,000. Most of the Hezhe villagers earn their living by fishing in the Wusulijiang and Heilongjiang rivers. My childhood knowledge about the Hezhe people is that they wear clothes made of fish skin, catch fish using backward tools and live a miserable life that is far removed from modern civilization.

I was prepared for a cultural shock or at least some surprises when I ventured into Zhuaji only to find that people there were living a much better life than their counterparts in some other rural areas of China.

Zhuaji is a small village with 250 residents, 150 of whom belong to the Hezhe ethnic group. When China launched its poverty eradication program, Zhuaji received not only poverty alleviation funds from different levels of government but also special funds to improve the livelihood of ethnic minority groups.

With such support, including from State-owned enterprises such as Harbin Electric Corporation, a new village headquarters was built and the villagers were persuaded to move into 100 apartments in six four-story buildings. In the apartments, they have running tap water, central heating, flush toilets and gas stoves. Sixty traditional Hezhe-style houses were also built in the new village where the villagers could open hotels and restaurants. Tourism alone has provided 150 jobs for the villagers, whose average annual income today is more than 20,000 yuan.

The unique Hezhe culture and traditions, and the beautiful view of the wetlands along the Wusulijiang River have turned Zhuaji into a hot tourist destination. It attracted more than 60,000 tourists last year. While two passengers in my van claimed they could not make as much money as they expected from their tourism-related businesses, a majority of them said they were not giving up their traditional livelihood of fishing.

Walking in the village, I came across villagers weaving or repairing fishing nets in front of their houses or fixing their fishing boats on the river bank during the fishing-ban season of July and August to prepare for the long and hard fishing season during the rest of the year including fishing on the frozen river when the temperature drops to minus 30-40 degrees Celsius in winter.

During the no-fishing season, fishing boats add to the beauty of the Wusulijiang River bank, making the 2-kilometer river border between China and Russia a nice place for relaxation. The sounds of the patrolling gunboats from both China and Russia remind you that you are in Zhuaji, a village that is a perfect mix of modernity and tradition, unique and normal features.

It is also one of the best places in China to escape the summer heat. When temperatures and humidity are becoming increasingly high in most parts of China, the temperature in Zhuaji is a comfortable 11-25 C. Cool!

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.

kangbing@chinadaily.com.cn

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲日本国产精华液| 强挺进小y头的小花苞漫画| 亚洲综合色丁香婷婷六月图片 | 图片区亚洲色图| 一本大道无香蕉综合在线| 无遮挡a级毛片免费看| 亚洲精品亚洲人成在线观看| 试看120秒做暖暖免费体验区| 夜栋病勤1一12在线观看| 三年片韩国在线观看| 欧洲精品码一区二区三区| 冠希与阿娇实干13分钟视频| 超兴奋的朋…中文字幕| 国产无遮挡吃胸膜奶免费看| 搡女人免费免费视频观看| 国产高清不卡视频| 中国女人内谢69xxx视频| 极品欧美jiizzhd欧美| 亚洲欧美日韩高清中文在线 | 国产精品国产三级国产专播| 中文字幕曰产乱码| 日本特黄特色特爽大片老鸭| 九九热精品免费| 极品人妻少妇一区二区三区| 亚洲喷奶水中文字幕电影| 欧美日韩第一区| 亚洲欧美人成综合导航| 永久免费无码日韩视频| 交换朋友夫妇2| 狠狠综合久久久久尤物丿| 免费**毛片在线播放直播| 真实国产伦子系| 国产偷国产偷亚洲高清人| 91香蕉在线视频| 成人午夜大片免费7777| 丰满老熟好大bbb| 欧美一区二区三区视频在线观看| 亚洲欧洲av无码专区| 欧美精品在线免费| 亚洲欧美色鬼久久综合| 欧美精品久久久久久久自慰|