Tonglu, Hangzhou, Zhejiang: Drawing on "Green Transformation" to Promote Rural Innovation and Entrepreneurship

"A 200-acre base for fruits of four seasons has been under construction where eight kinds of fruits with different ripening seasons planted, which means you can pick them all year round." said Fei Bin, secretary of the CPC Xiaoyuan Village committee, Fenshui Town, Tonglu County. The "Base for Fruits of Four Seasons" is part of the program of entrepreneurial villages construction in 2021 by the Tonglu County finance, which is estimated to receive a grant of CNY 600,000 after completion.

Shanhuling Resort [Photo by Tao Yuan]

Endowed with unique green resources, Tonglu turned to green transformation and became one of the 20 non-island counties (cities, districts) enjoying Zhejiang Province's "green transformation" financial special funds in 2020. As an important leading department, Tonglu County Finance Bureau plays the role of financial security and fund supervision, etc. It also works to stimulate the entrepreneurial vitality of Tonglu through support funds like the "construction of entrepreneurial villages".

A view of Xiaoyuan Village, Fenshui Town, Tonglu County [Photo by Tao Yuan]

Xiaoyuan Village has made full use of resources such as mountains, water, forests, fields, lakes, and houses, successfully introducing Shanhuling tourism and holiday project, while making breakthroughs in traditional model agricultural industry. This village has planted Chinese medicinal herbs, lotus, greenhouse mushrooms, and Anji white tea in large scale, as well as offered B&B accommodation experience and parent-child travel experience.

"'The symbiosis of fish and vegetable' refers to a compound farming system that achieves a synergistic symbiosis between aquaculture and hydroponic cultivation through ecological design. In this system, there is no water quality concerns without changing water for farmed fish, and no need to fertilize for vegetable growing." Fei Bin added that this fish-vegetable symbiosis model could mobilize local villagers to invest as shareholders, leading to common development and common prosperity. (Text by Tao Yuan)