As a former national-level poverty-stricken county, Baojing County in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province, has consistently prioritized consolidating poverty alleviation achievements and advancing comprehensive rural revitalization since emerging from poverty. The locality has earnestly implemented the experience of the "Thousand Villages Demonstration, Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project, boldly innovating with new models of resident-team linked area assistance and clustered development by zones. By breaking down village barriers and integrating resources across the entire region, it has promoted tripartite linkage between industry, assistance, and governance, forging a path of rural revitalization characterized by shared prosperity within zones and coordinated advancement across the whole territory.
In spring, the Lüdong Mountain is shrouded in mist over the tea hills, where terraced tea gardens stretch across several villages. Tea-picking farmers move among the rows, their fingers deftly plucking fresh, tender tea buds. This integrated tea-tourism zone, connecting the five villages of Huangjin, Chaling, Hangji, Lüdong, and Hangsha, faced a precarious situation just a few years ago.
"In the past, each village developed independently, with scattered tea cultivation. Going it alone not only meant we couldn't fetch a good price, but we were also anxious whenever the market fluctuated," admitted Yang Dinghua, a tea farmer from Chaling Village in Lüdongshan Town. He noted that linked-zone development has allowed the villages to unite their efforts like a clenched fist to tackle the market together, resulting in more stable tea quality, a stronger brand, and more reliable income.
Relying on the resident-team linked area assistance mechanism, starting from 2025, Baojing County has comprehensively implemented resident-team linked area assistance and zone-based clustered promotion of rural revitalization across the entire county. Based on the principles of geographical proximity, similar industries, and complementary advantages, it scientifically divided the 173 villages (communities) across its 12 townships into 31 development zones. This has fundamentally broken down traditional administrative barriers between villages, allowing development factors such as capital, projects, technology, and talent to flow freely across village boundaries.
Industrial Prosperity: The Core of Shared Zone Prosperity
Industrial prosperity is the core support for shared prosperity within the zones. Baojing County has fully implemented the "1+N" and "1+1+N" mentorship mechanisms where strong villages support weaker ones. Twenty-six zones adopted the "1+N" model to radiate and drive development in 139 villages, while five zones relied on the "1+1+N" model to assist 25 villages, using strong villages as leaders to drive the overall rise of their respective zones.
In midsummer, the sweet potato fields in the Xizhouli zone of Yangchao Township are thriving. As the leading village in the zone, Xizhou Village took the lead in uniting five surrounding villages to collaboratively develop a distinctive sweet potato industry. "The greatest advantage of linked-zone development is resource integration and tackling the market together," explained He Jun, Party Branch Secretary of Xizhou Village. The zone integrated resources such as land, labor, and processing equipment, delved into deep processing of sweet potatoes, and extended the industrial chain. In 2025, the zone's sweet potato industry achieved an annual output value of 2.4 million yuan, involving over 580 farming households in cultivation.
Villager Zeng Zhangbin said with a smile, "I don't need to work away from home. Working with the zone's industry right at my doorstep provides stable income, and I can also take care of my family. Life feels solid this way!"
Unified Operations and Brand Building
In industrial cultivation, all zones across the county integrate advantageous resources and implement a "three unifications" operational model covering standards, processing, and sales. They vigorously develop market-oriented "strong village companies." In 2025, 18 such companies collectively generated revenue of 15.47 million yuan. Simultaneously, the county focused on building regional public brands like Baojing Golden Tea and "Village Chef Companion," helping local specialty products reach beyond the mountains.
The Luqishan zone in Hulu Township integrated tea garden resources spanning 32,000 mu (approximately 2,133 hectares) across six administrative villages. It unified tea processing standards and standardized the purchasing system, uniting to build a distinctive industrial cluster for Baojing Golden Tea. In 2025, the zone's comprehensive tea output value reached 720 million yuan, with ten-thousand-mu tea gardens successfully completing export registration procedures, propelling Baojing Golden Tea to markets beyond Hunan and overseas.
Linked Assistance: The Guarantee for Development
While linked industries are the foundation, linked resident assistance is the guarantee. Relying on the 31 zone-leading units and 119 resident work teams, Baojing County established "four lists" covering resources, demands, projects, and support. This promotes unified allocation and precise deployment of assistance resources, transforming assistance funds from "scattered inputs" to "intensive use," achieving the effect of "one village's backing, shared by multiple villages."
The Huan Baiyun Mountain zone in Qingshuiping Town is a typical example. In 2025, this zone coordinated the implementation of 24 various projects, integrating 30.17 million yuan in assistance funds. It concentrated efforts on improving infrastructure and developing characteristic industries, leading to a complete transformation in the villages' appearance and development landscape within the zone.
"Resident assistance has never been about going it alone. One household doing well isn't true prosperity; everyone doing well is what really counts," shared Lü Baohuan, First Secretary of the Party Branch stationed in Kezhai Village, Qingshuiping Town, expressing a profound understanding. To address challenges like dispersed resident forces and lack of shared experience, Baojing County innovatively established 12 resident first secretary collaboration groups, absorbing 376 first secretaries and resident team members from across the county. This created a communication platform for cross-village collaboration, experience sharing, and human resource exchange.
Kezhai Village linked with four surrounding villages—Zhongxi, Xidong, Mawang, and Daba. With village cadres at the core, they formed a cadre-led farmer assistance group. Through a "cadres lead, all participate" model, they helped villagers master e-commerce skills, transforming the assistance group from a team of a few into a shared income-increasing platform built and shared by villagers. This established a development pattern of "one core leading, five villages linking."
Shared Resources and Joint Construction
Inter-village co-construction and resource sharing have become the norm for zone development. In the Luqishan zone, 13 agricultural business entities joined hands with 48 tea processing workshops for collaborative development, increasing overall processing capacity by 20% and stably driving employment and income growth for over 4,000 people. The Xizhouli zone revitalized idle resources like crop straw and production waste residue from various villages, jointly building a biomass pellet plant to turn waste into treasure, achieving a win-win for both ecological and economic benefits.
From project co-construction to industrial co-prosperity, from resource sharing to force integration, linked resident assistance has led villages to abandon the mindset of "each fighting their own battles" and stride hand-in-hand towards "win-win across the entire territory."
Strengthened Governance for a Solid Foundation
With thriving industries and strong teams, grassroots governance must also keep pace. Using governance linkage as a starting point, Baojing County has shifted rural governance from "going it alone" to "collaborative and effective governance," laying a solid grassroots foundation for clustered development. All zones across the county have established collaborative development councils, absorbing 986 grassroots cadres, market entities, and professionals to participate in zone governance. Seventy-five "rural revitalization partners" and "professional village heads" were hired to assist rural construction, building a modern zone governance system characterized by overall territorial planning and multi-party participation. Cross-village affairs are discussed and advanced uniformly, significantly enhancing the organizational and standardized levels within zones.
Party building leadership empowers and enhances zone governance. The county established a zone-based Party building coordination mechanism, promoting deep integration between Party building work and industrial development as well as grassroots governance. The tea-tourism integration zone in Lüdongshan Township assigned fixed responsibilities to 173 Party member technical experts who went into the fields to answer tea farmers' questions and impart cultivation skills, addressing farmers' technical shortcomings. The Luqishan zone used Party building as a bond to establish diversified online and offline sales platforms. In 2025, the zone's online tea sales exceeded 68 million yuan, with the "red energy" continuously activating rural development vitality.
Cultivating Civilized Rural Practices
In fostering civilized rural practices, down-to-earth governance methods like points-based management, the "Red and Blue Ten Articles" village regulations and agreements, and courtyard discussion meetings have taken root in zones across the county. The Fengchaoshan zone in Fuxing Township innovatively implemented a "Red and Blue Board" public notification system and a "Six Hearts" points management scheme. It regularly conducts human settlement hygiene evaluations and recognizes exemplary civilized behavior, sparking unprecedented enthusiasm among villagers for participating in rural construction.
"To build this 'Road of Unity,' seven households each voluntarily gave up seven chi (approx. 2.33 meters) of their homestead land. Everyone took the initiative to contribute labor and give up land and benefits. This truly reflects our village's unity of purpose and joint effort in building our home together," said villager Zhu Chuanping from Ganxi Village.
To date, zones have cumulatively completed 68 projects built through villagers' land and benefit concessions. Villagers have transformed from "onlookers" in rural construction into "participants" and "builders." A new civilized ethos permeates every corner of the countryside, with simple, kind-hearted village customs and folkways becoming prevalent.
A New Model for Collective Advancement
From "single-village breakthroughs" to "shared prosperity within zones," from "each fighting their own battles" to "win-win across the entire territory," and from "going it alone" to "collaborative and effective governance," the new model of resident-team linked area assistance and clustered development has broken the longstanding developmental dilemma of village segmentation and resource dispersion. Today in Baojing County, the 31 development zones are flourishing in multiple locations and advancing together. Every village has its industry, every household has increased income, and everyone is driven with motivation.
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