In the heat of midsummer July, the red chili peppers hang heavy on the branches in Xiaoxu Village's chili pepper planting base in Guhe Town, Funing County. Grower Zhou Hongbiao is picking them at the field's edge, his words full of assurance: "The village processing plant guarantees purchase, so we no longer worry about being unable to sell them." Two years ago, such a scene was hard to imagine. At that time, local chili peppers could only be sold sporadically, with highly fluctuating market prices.
In June 2024, the provincial task force stationed in Funing County for rural revitalization arrived. They worked with the village's "two committees" to revitalize a disused school building, establishing the "Spicy Beauty" chili pepper deep-processing base. Fresh peppers are now transformed on-site into products like chili sauce, chopped pepper sauce, and beef sauce, increasing the output value per mu from 6,000 yuan to 24,000 yuan.
When the task force first arrived, Xiaoxu Village's collective operating income was only 360,000 yuan, classifying it as a provincially designated economically weak village. After two years of focused effort, the village's collective annual income has leapt to 1.1 million yuan, completely shedding its weak-village status. With simultaneous breakthroughs in industry, governance, and people's livelihoods, a remarkable turnaround has infused the old revolutionary base area village with entirely new vitality.
Industrial Transformation: From Small-Scale Hawking to Industry-Agriculture Synergy
Entering the "Spicy Beauty" processing plant, the air is filled with the distinctive pungent aroma of chili peppers. Workers on the production line—washing, chopping, blending, filling, sterilizing—are all local villagers. "We can produce over 2,000 bottles of chili sauce a day, and orders are booked through next month," said Yan Mingliang, the plant's manager.
The processing plant also drives activity in surrounding villages. Seeing that chili peppers have a guaranteed market, villagers from nearby areas have also started planting them. The task force guided this trend by providing unified seedlings, technical guidance, and purchase agreements, gradually forming a complete industrial chain. Currently, chili pepper cultivation has expanded from the initial few dozen mu to nearly 200 mu, involving nearly a hundred households compared to the original dozen or so, adding over 200,000 yuan to the village's collective income over two years.
The task force also led the registration of a village-strengthening company in the name of the village collective, creating a "buy nationally, sell nationally" commercial circulation model. This combines national high-quality specialties like Xinjiang dates and honey with local Funing agricultural products such as rice cakes, black pork, and bean products. From cost accounting and client engagement to sourcing and quality control, the task force taught village cadres the entire business process step-by-step. Over two years, the company's consumption assistance turnover exceeded 23 million yuan, ranking first among the 24 provincial task forces, and cumulatively increased the collective income of the nine linked villages by over 2 million yuan.
Wang Jiwei, deputy secretary of the task force's temporary Party branch and the resident first secretary in Xiaoxu Village from the Provincial Public Security Department, explained that following the assistance principle of "agriculture laying the foundation, industry empowering and enabling blood-making," and leveraging the "five-party linkage" mechanism, the task force successfully attracted a police uniform and equipment enterprise to sign and settle in Guhe Town. During the project's advancement, the task force also assisted the town government in identifying and training over 260 local sewing technicians to ensure they could be "recruited, utilized, and retained."
With many left-behind women in the village and few employment opportunities, the task force established a "Common Prosperity" wiring harness workshop, creating flexible piece-rate positions that allow over 30 left-behind women to earn income while caring for their families. From single-crop cultivation to industry-agriculture synergy, from relying on the weather to working in a factory, Xiaoxu Village has broken its industrial hollowing-out predicament, continuously solidifying the foundation of its collective economy.
Governance Transformation: From "Hard to Manage" to "Resolved Locally"
Located at the border of Yancheng and Huai'an cities, Xiaoxu Village historically had significant population movement. In the past, neighborhood and other disputes were common, with village cadres constantly acting as mediators, overwhelmed by the task. Leveraging the advantage of having the Provincial Public Security Department as the lead unit, the task force utilized its professional expertise to innovatively implement a "Three Ones" rural governance method: establishing one mediation center, forming one rule-of-law team, and building one smart platform.
The mediation center is located on the first floor of the village office. Resident police officers, village cadres, and judicial mediators hold regular office hours. Simple disputes are mediated the same day, complex disputes have a plan proposed within three days, and major disputes involve a joint mediation meeting within a week. There are fixed reception days for "sitting in" to hear public opinion, grid workers conduct daily visits for "patrols" to detect early signs, and complex issues involve multi-department joint "consultations" to solve problems.
Villagers Aunt Li and Aunt Yu had been feuding over a homestead boundary for over half a year, with several rounds of village cadre mediation failing. After the mediation center took over, staff visited seven or eight times, listening to demands, explaining情理 (reasonableness), and stating法理 (legal principles). They also invited professionals from the land resources office to re-survey the land, proposing a solution acceptable to both parties, leading to a handshake and reconciliation. "Before, when villagers had conflicts, they would go upwards, even to the town and county," Wang Jiwei said. "Now, over 95% of disputes are resolved within the village, truly achieving 'no conflict escalation'."
The smart platform also operates simultaneously. AI cameras are installed at main village intersections, riverbanks, and key areas, enabling automatic identification and instant warnings for hazards like fires or children falling into water. Addressing the persistent problem of frequent traffic accidents on the national highway passing through the village, the task force also led the development of the "Safe Travel Companion" precise traffic accident early warning system.
Rong Liguo, member of the Funing County Standing Committee, Deputy County Head, and head of the provincial task force stationed in Funing County for rural revitalization, introduced that the "Safe Travel Companion" warning system has been promoted county-wide, and the "Three Ones" work method is also being fully implemented in the nine villages linked to the task force. From "taking issues upwards" to "resolving matters in the village," the change in Xiaoxu Village's governance has made villagers feel more secure.
Livelihood Transformation: From "Worrying About Housing" to "Secure Living"
Whether a village is prosperous can be seen in whether its houses are warm and its days stable. Villager Xu, aged 40, has suffered from uremia for years, requiring dialysis three times a week and having largely lost his ability to work. His wife is nearly blind in her left eye and cannot work normally. Their two children are in school, and there are also two elderly, frequently ill parents. The family was squeezed into a house over 20 years old, with tilting walls and a leaking roof.
The task force listed the Xu family as a key assistance target. Leaders from the Provincial Public Security Department took the lead in donating, and various levels of public security organs and caring enterprises raised over 200,000 yuan to build a new 110-square-meter safe house, fully furnished with household appliances. The task force then followed up with a complete set of safety net measures: they secured subsistence allowances for Mr. Xu and his children; his original monthly dialysis cost of 7,080 yuan, after medical insurance and critical illness assistance reimbursements, now requires only about 400 yuan out-of-pocket; the task force, together with the town government, found Mr. Xu's wife a stable job at a meat processing plant in town with a monthly income of 3,500 yuan; and two female police officers from the county public security bureau became "爱心妈妈 (loving mothers)" for the two children, providing regular home visits for care and tutoring.
The change in the Xu family is a microcosm of the task force's livelihood assistance. Over two years, leveraging the "Su'an Fuxing" special fund, the task force raised 1.44 million yuan in donations, assisted over a hundred students in困境 (difficult circumstances), built 10 "Dream Cabins," conducted over 30 public义诊 (free medical consultations) serving more than 7,000 people and students, and coordinated the donation of 30,000 yuan worth of medical equipment to fill gaps in village-level healthcare.
As the two-year term ended, the Provincial Organization Department and the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly conducted a performance assessment of this term's resident task forces. The provincial task force stationed in Funing County for rural revitalization ranked first in comprehensive evaluation within Yancheng City.
The transformation of Xiaoxu Village from a "weak village" to a "million-yuan village" is clearly visible. "When the village collective has money, it can do more practical things for the people. Better days are still ahead," said Yan Shijiang, the village Party branch secretary. Although the task force's term ended and they departed this month, Xiaoxu Village will continue to consolidate its revitalization achievements, forging a sustainable development path that integrates industry and agriculture and promotes shared peace and prosperity in this red old revolutionary base area.
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