TextbyLiuQian
KnownasWangjianandlocatedinYangyuheTown,ShangzhouDistrictofShangluoCity,ShaanxiProvince,thevillageliessixkilometerssouthwestofShangzhou(acounty-levelcity),aneconomic,political,andculturalcenter.Itisarepresentativeofcomparativelywell-developedvillagesinwesternChinaandawindowshowcasingthechangesofthecountryoverthelastfewyears.
HuBiliang,professorofeconomicsatBeijingNormalUniversity,startedhisfieldinvestigationofthevillagebackin1993within-depthanalysisofawiderangeoffactorsfromhistoryandculturetoenterprisesandeconomicdevelopment.In2012and2016respectively,ProfessorHureturnedtoWangjianwithhisresearchteam.
SinceChina鈥檚implementationofeconomicreformandopeninguppolicies,ruralareashaveexperienceddramaticchangesinmanyrespectsthankstotherapiddevelopmentoftownshipenterprises,agoodexampleofwhichcanbewitnessedatWangjian鈥檚brickyards.
Wangjian鈥檚firstbrickyard,Liming(Dawn)BricksandTilesPlantwasestablishedbackin1959.By1993,thenumberofsuchfactoriesreachedfive,ofvarioussizes.Duringthisperiod,theyexperiencedvariousmanagementchangesfromcollectiveownershipandcollectiveoperationtoahouseholdcontractresponsibilitysystemwithremunerationlinkedtooutput.In1999,YuXuelitooktheofficeoflocalPartysecretary,andtheplantsbegantouseajointstockcooperativesystemfeaturingacollectively-raisedfundcontractandoperationledbyvillagecadres,linkingthebenefitgoalsanddestinyofeveryoneinthevillage.
Thevillagetransformeditsadvantageousnaturalresourcessuchasheapsofhills,mountains,andearthintotheeconomicstrengthofbrickproduction.Italsoprovidedvillagerswithmeasurestohelpthemadapttolocalconditions.AccordingtoProfessorHu鈥檚1993investigationstatistics,in1970,19.1percentofthevillage鈥檚revenuecamefrombricks,andin1986,thatnumberpassed50percentandin1993,86.8percent.
Brickproductionbecameamajorforcedrivingthevillage鈥檚development.Since2000,brickplantshavecontributedaverageannualrevenuesof180,000yuantothevillage,makingupover90percentofitstotalearnings.
Theplantscreatedplentyofjobsforthelaborsurplusintheareaandfilledthewalletsofmostvillagers.ProfessorHu鈥檚investigationshowsthatby1993,thenetincomeofWangjianresidentshadjumpedby70percentthankstobrickproduction.Topearnerstookhomeabout5,000yuanannually.