China News Service, Lishui, July 12 (Reporter Zhou Yulong) The 12th of each month is the happiest day for Luo Genrong, a villager in Chayuan Natural Village, Xitan Village, Longyang Township, Suichang County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province.

  On this day, he can receive a salary of 3500 yuan (RMB, the same below) at the door of his house. For farmers who grow their land at home, this salary is already considerable. In addition, Luo Genrong is also a landlord, and the annual homestead rent can be collected at more than 20,000 yuan.

  All these changes started from the day that Chayuan Village became a "traveling manor". The declining village is "lived" again due to the entry of industrial and commercial capital.

400 years old village "Butterfly" became a manor house

  Chayuan Village is located at the southern foot of Jiulong Mountain, a national nature reserve, about an hour and a half drive from Suichang County. The village is small, with only more than 140 people, but there are good cultural and ecological resources.

  Chayuan Village is waiting for an opportunity.

  At the end of 2016, several guests came from the village. They were several leaders of the company doing travel projects, inspected more than 100 villages suitable for rural travel projects in the country, and finally came to Chayuan Village under the investment invitation of the Suichang County Government.

Photo courtesy of Suichang Propaganda Department

  The company's chairman, Luo Lei, was attracted by the ancient trees at first glance. Hearing that there are still hundreds of years of tree activities in the village, he couldn't help but feel: "The protection is so good, it's spectacular."

  This time, Luo Lei and shareholders quickly made a decision that their first rural residence project should be placed in Chayuan Village. Because "the resources are good, the villagers have a strong sense of protection, and the government's concept of ecological value conversion is new."

  What should the village look like after it has been "activated"? The project team has been thinking for a long time, and even invited Peking University Humanities College and Shenzhen research institutes for community research to carry out rural “activation” research. "We hope that the project is not an intrusive development, but a model of mixed living with local villagers to restore the original appearance of the village."

  Therefore, Ke Wei, a Chinese-American architect, permeated this idea throughout the architectural design. Everything is based on local materials, rammed earth walls, wood, stone... even the tiles are moved nearby, showing the original sense of history of the village.

The small village has the power of youth

  In the "resurrection" of the countryside, the power of youth is the source of vitality. In the Tea Garden Village, the power of youth can be seen everywhere.

  Tea artist Zheng Xiuzhen is a "post-90s" native of Changlian Village, Yunfeng Street, Suichang County, majoring in tea culture at the university. The most fulfilling thing for Zheng Xiuzhen is to make the income of tea farmers in the village increase significantly compared with previous years.

  For example, the villager Luo Caigen’s 15-kilogram hand-fried tea was sold to an enterprise. With the 4,500 yuan he got, he was very happy. "The price of 300 yuan per kilogram was bought, which is one third higher than the price I used to sell."

  And Guo Bingling. Her identity is very special. She is not a staff member of the manor, but is closely connected with the manor.

  After signing the contract in a cooperative manner, the "post-90s" Japanese fruit craftsman put the studio in Chayuan Village.

  What attracts Guo Bingling is not only the cooperative income of 80,000 yuan a year. In her view, what is more important is the relatively stable entrepreneurial platform. "Like duckweed has roots, I can rely on here to let Heguo go further."

  In just one year, Chayuan Village has changed from a semi-hollow village with only left-behind elderly people to an ideal place for young people to come to work.

Villagers return to regain popularity

  Villagers who have tasted the sweetness of the ecological dividend are returning more and more.

  Luo Genrong was one of the first villagers to return. Previously, he and his wife were doing nursery business in Suichang County. The couple's annual income was about 100,000 yuan. After returning to the village, his identity became a new rural industrial worker.

  He carefully calculated an account, his salary was 42,000 yuan a year, the rent of the housing site to the company was about 20,000 yuan a year, the rent of farmland and reserved land was 1,800 yuan a year, and the tea harvest was good in 2020. There are 12,000 yuan for the company, and there are more than 100 acres of responsible mountains in the family classified as public welfare forests. The subsidy is nearly 5,000 yuan a year, and a total of more than 80,000 yuan in income. His wife worked as a nursery teacher in Ningbo, and also earned more than 100,000 yuan a year.

  Luo Genrong's father also rented out the house site and was still working in the company. He was responsible for herding cattle and cleaning public areas. His monthly salary was 2,600 yuan. "70 years old, and can still earn an income of 50,000 or 60,000 a year, very good." Luo Genrong said.

  Like Luo Genrong, Yang Ronglan, a villager who originally opened a shop outside, also returned to the village and worked as a housekeeping supervisor in the manor with a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan. After she returned to the village, she not only learned the skills of room service, but also took care of her elderly in-laws. "Working in the village does not affect my cooking of tea gardens and forests, so that the fields are not deserted." Yang Ronglan said.

  Today's Chayuan Village is like a source of contemporary peach blossoms where simplicity and modernity coexist. (Finish)