Luodong village lies in Jiangpu subdistrict in Conghua district of South China's Guangdong province. Located on the east bank of the Liuxi River, about 4 kilometers away from downtown Conghua, it covers 4.5 square kilometers with a population of more than 3,700. The village has a long history of carpentry which won it the title of "the village of carpenters". To date, there are still a good number of old craftsmen engaged with traditional carpentry. Since 2019, in further implementing the rural revitalization national strategy, Jiangpu subdistrict has cultivated the advantages of its four villages including Luodong and strived to build them into a characteristic township featuring craftsmanship and a beautiful eco-environment.

Beautifying the village and highlighting craftsmanship

In order to explore and inherit the craftsmanship of Luodong village, the Luodong Craftsman Town was built to feature that culture of craftsmanship. Campaigns to achieve zero abandoned cultivated land and to improve the villagers' living environment were carried out during the characteristic town's construction. Moreover, the local school was upgraded, and other infrastructure facilities such as parking lots and roads and sidewalks were renovated. Lighting decorations were added to the town's central area and greening projects were initiated.

The town also built scenic spots that continue to attract visitors' attention. They include a path with a number of carpenter statues demonstrating different wood making procedures, a corridor that showcases the local carving craftsmanship, and a school that will be used as a teaching base for craftsmanship.

Insisting on Party building to stimulate rural revitalization

The face changing progress in building Luodong Craftsman Town has brought the Luodong villagers an increasing sense of gain and happiness. Behind all this are the unremitting efforts of the village Party branch and the village committee.

Luodong established a democratic deliberation system in the town's construction. All decisions can be made and implemented only after four rounds of deliberations and two rounds of announcements. By doing this, a high level of villagers' autonomy and democratic deliberation was achieved.

Furthermore, in a bid to improve governance level, the village has set up a social organization at village level and established a management system consisting 10 positions to maintain the social order of the village. The 10 positions include cleaning, public toilet maintenance, sewage treatment inspection, greening, pastoral production supervising, water and electricity securing, maintenance of public facilities and public security, and maintenance of volunteer services. All the positions are funded by the village committee and carried out by villagers from poverty-stricken families. This way of involving local villagers in rural construction and governance not only increases their income, but also fosters their sense of participation in their hometown's character and future.  

Focusing on cultural construction

While working on improving the living environment, Luodong village attached significant importance to enriching people's spiritual lives.

A library of 40 square meters was set up in the village with a collection of 1,500 books covering politics, law, economics, culture, history, health, agriculture and sciences. The books are regularly updated based on villagers' interests and needs. 

The village has also screened Red movies for locals and organized Party history learning events. “By launching a series of cultural events, we hope to enrich people's cultural lives to optimize grassroots governance and achieve cultural rural revitalization”, said head of the village committee.