Qiangjia village, located in the north of Gucun Town, Baoshan District, is close to the Outer Ring Road and Hutai Road, and adjacent to Gucun Park. Covering an area of 0.82 square kilometers, the village has an arable land area of 586 mu (390,667 square meters) and a registered population of 1,085 people. Since the start of the beautiful countryside construction, Qiangjia village has closely followed the needs and expectations of the villagers in building the village and won many awards for its construction achievements.

It has been awarded the Shanghai Beautiful Home Model Village, the National Model Village of Civilized Transportation, the National Model Village of Democracy and Rule of Law, and the Sixth Batch of National Civilized Village, and recently, it was awarded the title of 2023 Shanghai Beautiful Countryside.

A member of the village committee of Qiangjia village told reporters: “We held villagers’ congress and asked the villagers about their opinions on the construction work. One of the things they said is that we should build a footpath along the paddy fields, as we have 204 mu (136,000 square meters) of beautiful rice fields and some existing paths are too narrow.”

After dedicated efforts, a beautiful path traversing the paddy fields was built. “We constructed a 1.7-meter-wide and 516-meter-long path over the irrigation canal, and paved it with colored asphalt.”

In addition to that, there are other positive changes taking place in this beautiful village “built in line with the demands of the villagers”.

Invite professional teams to build a beautiful village

Since the beautiful village construction program started, Qiangjia Village, as a reserved village under planning, has invited professional teams for the construction design. Professors from the School of Design of Shanghai University were invited to carry out village construction design as resident experts so as to create a unique design with rural characteristics that demonstrates the harmonious coexistence of nature, rural development and human activities. Key projects include the design of greenways, vegetable gardens (labor education base), pocket parks, neighborhood canteens, and beautiful courtyards as well as the layout upgrading of the Zhoujiangxiang area. The construction and action plan for beautiful village construction was developed, and a construction leading group was set to organize regular meetings with resident design professionals, construction units, village committees, and villagers’ representatives. All members of the village party committee and the villagers have, in line with the construction requirements and plans, worked together on executing the program, especially on facility upgrading and building, ecological protection and village appearance improvement, effectively turning the “blueprint” of beautiful villages into “reality”.

Improve infrastructure and public services

Rural infrastructure in Qiangjia village has been upgraded comprehensively. The village carried out a road upgrading project, under which a total of 11 kilometers of concrete roads were upgraded into pitch roads, about 630 meters of green brick fences were built, 5,000 square meters of greeneries were planted on roadsides, 92 street lights were installed, and passing bays and safety mirrors were installed at the conjunction of East Shierfang Road and Qiangjiacun road to improve road capacity. All roads in the village were hardened, greatly facilitating residents’ daily travel. Two exceptionally high-quality roads—Qiangjiacun Road and Zhoujiangxiang Road were built and in 2023, and a footpath was newly built traversing the vast rice fields, allowing villagers and tourists to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. Toilet upgrading was carried out in an effort to build a clean, hygienic and well-maintained toilet environment. Currently, seven public toilets in the village have reached the public toilet standard of Grade 3. Guide signs were optimized, with guide maps of the village added. Eight guide signs for the main roads, public service stations and sightseeing spots were added, and 13 upgrades were made for store signs, signs, advertising boards and bulletin boards. One-stop public service centers have been built and upgraded, which are equipped with public service facilities such as new era civilization practice stations, community health service stations, libraries, friendly neighborhood stations, elderly canteens, and multifunctional recreation rooms to provide one-stop services for residents, especially the elderly. Efforts were made to establish municipal-level friendly neighborhood stations, which, serving as a “parlor at doors”, regularly hold activities related to health, traditional festivals, artistic performances, sports and fitness, while also providing policy publicity, legal advice, mediation and other services. These stations have been built in different locations across the village, providing convenient places for residents to relax themselves and communicate with others.

Beautify the natural environment and build a harmonious ecological system

Water system renovation was completed adhering to the concept of ecological civilization. Five village-level rivers have been cleared and connected, three small and micro water systems have been upgraded, and nearly 10 kilometers of ecological revetment have been built. Water quality has been improved, with inferior Class V waters treated and uncivilized activities such as unauthorized construction and garbage piling and dumping prohibited. The river chief mechanism was established and implemented to ensure that both sides of the river are clean and beautiful and to maintain a river ecology featuring clear water, green banks and beautiful sceneries. Vigorous efforts have been directed at greening and beautification, with large areas of green belts created around the village. Camphor, privet, yellow cedar, osmanthus and other trees were easily seen in the village, and the overall greening ratio of the village has reached 70%. The sewage water management project was implemented. Domestic sewage of the village has been connected to the municipal sewage network, and water treatment reached the required standard. Measures have been taken to build a model community for domestic waste classification. An upgraded standardized domestic waste classification has been built, three waste classification and recycling stations have been set, and four electric waste collection vehicles have been arranged for the collection of dry and wet waste. A total of 200 garbage classification bins were distributed to the neighborhood and 98% of the households sorted their waste correctly into appropriate bins. Agricultural waste has been more effectively treated, with rice straw disposed of in the field and six agricultural waste recycling points were set according to local conditions, thus achieving unified recycling and centralized treatment and ensuring that farmers’ private land is clean and in order.

Develop characteristic industries and embrace a technology and innovation-driven economy

Qiangjia village, adhering to the concept of “making every grain of rice better”, has made good use of its 204 mu (136,000 square meters) of farmland to develop its characteristic agricultural industry. The village improved its water conservancy system, and gradually developed a mode featuring scientific cultivation, mechanized planting, and fine management. Rape and broad beans were planted as a source of “green fertilizer”, and high-yield varieties such as “Baonong 34” and “Huayou 14” were introduced. Agricultural machinery and equipment were upgraded and the farm mechanization rate reached 100%. All these efforts have greatly improved production efficiency and increased the average output per mu to 650 kg, which helped the village win the title of “high-yield and high-efficiency demonstration site of green grain production” for many years. The characteristic industry has also contributed to farmers’ income increase, lifting their income per capita to RMB 40,568. As more scientific innovations are applied to agricultural development, the industrial space in Qiangjia village will see further upgradation and the agricultural development will deliver more tangible benefits to the people.