“In the 1950’s and 60’s, all the farmers from Hancunhe village relied luck, stock and barrel on having successful crops. But that wasn’t always an easy proposition. The soil quality was poor and prone to flooding in the rainy season. In years when there was no harvest, hunger and in some cases starvation would set in among the peasants. Unfortunately for the farmers who lived during those times, no farmer, no matter how big a disaster the harvest had been or would be, was permitted to switch trades and perform other sorts of work for his own survival. Moreover, a Hancunhe yeoman’s income was decided by how many work points he got-- and the maximum work points for a day’s work in the field was valued at just 0.30 yuan, or about 4 US cents. As you might imagine, daily life for the people of this village under such circumstances was tenuous at best.”

But a sea change began to take place in their lives in 1978 when the country adopted a reform and open policy. Tillers of the soil in Hancunhe village now had a real opportunity to lay aside their ploughshares for other trades and professions. Many of them seized the day, trying out new walks of life that might be able to reward them in ways unknown to their humble husbandry. Some of the village’s plasterers and carpenters began to organize themselves to take work in nearby villages. By 1983, they had begun taking some of the small and medium construction projects in Beijing. With a steady expansion of their business, the Hancunhe construction company became a group in 1994. Village official Li Dejiang says the Hancunhe Construction Group has become an enterprise of considerable size.

The development of the village’s construction group has greatly boosted the village’s economy. The standard of living for farmers these days in Hancunhe is significantly higher than it was in the past. And to the farmers’ delight, by the end of 1999, all of them had moved into newly built villa-like houses in both traditional Chinese and European architectural style. Here is Li Dejiang again.

“We have built a total of 518 two-story houses and 210 five-story houses for farmers. The latter are for commercial sale. But the two-storey houses are exclusively for the villagers. The houses come in various sizes ranging from 240 to 360 square metres each. We sold the houses to the farmers at 300 yuan per square metre with heavy subsidization to meet their financial needs. The farmers were given the option of selling off their original houses, which typically are in bad condition, to the village, also at a price of 300 yuan a square metre. If you sit down and do the math, you’d see that many of the farmers hit the real estate jackpot, paying just one third of the total price to move their families into brand new modern buildings supplied with central heating.”

The villagers could also pay a deposit beforehand to buy their new house. The annual interest rate was 20 percent. This was much higher than that of the bank.

Villager Li Kai is 70 years old now. He and his wife live in a new house with a floor space of 240 square metres. It is a two-storey house with a large balcony and yard in front of the house. He has never thought that one day he could live in such a nice house, not only himself, but all the villagers.

“I am an old villager of Hancunhe. I was born here and grew up here. In the past we were poor. It was difficult to make ends meet, not to mention have good housing. I have five children, four daughters and one son. All the children have married and live outside of the village. They often come to visit us. We are in good health and live very happily.”

In order to diversify the economy, the village authorities have also begun to develop tourism for the town. Because it is close to Beijing, the village markets itself to city dwellers by offering them a one or two day escape from the environs of the big city. Li Kai has a big house and many days of the year, only the couple live in the house. So they enjoy receiving and playing host to holiday-makers from the city.

“There are over 10 rooms in this house. We rent some of them to the visitors from the city. They can take a rest here or live here. We provide them with beds and food. The food has typical local flavour. You can’t find it in the city. We chat to each other. We tell the city people about what life in our village is like, and we also get to know what is going on in the city. Their trips here have really enriched our villagers’ life.”

(China Radio International July 18, 2002)