A range of measures is bringing higher living standards and a cleaner environment across the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

In 1996, Luo Changri started working as a truck driver. However, despite long hours and hard work, he only made about 20,000 yuan a year.

For generations, residents of his hometown — Dazhao village, Luzhai county, Zhongdu township, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region — made a living by growing rice.

After years of transporting construction materials along lonely expressways, Luo began to consider what he would do when he got too old to drive trucks.

At the end of 2014, he returned to Dazhao to consider the prospects for starting his own business. Having passed many scenic spots during his days on the road, he wanted to do something related to tourism.

By coincidence, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs had just started a national campaign to build a beautiful countryside.

As such, it had introduced 10 development modes to help villages nationwide develop tourism and related industries.

Luo learned that the Dazhao authorities were encouraging farmers to grow lotus flowers instead of rice, as agricultural experts had discovered that the village land was ideal for cultivation of the plant.

He thought it was a good opportunity, so he followed suit. "We can earn 4,000 to 5,000 yuan ($550 to $690) per mu (0.06 hectares) growing lotus flowers, but only 750 yuan per mu growing rice," he said.

The village's lotus ponds cover 67 hectares, equivalent to 93 soccer fields, and the beautiful flowers draw tourists from all over the country.

To better develop rural tourism, the local authorities spent 800 million yuan on 30 major projects designed to improve the settlement's appearance, upgrade roads, renovate several scenic areas and establish a tourist center.

In 2018, Luo converted his houses into homestays. Now, he earns 700,000 yuan a year and employs a dozen workers. His success inspired other villagers to follow in his footsteps. As a result, lotus ponds now generate a combined revenue of more than 2 million yuan every year, while also providing jobs for more than 100 villagers.

With several income streams, such as rent from homestays and money from working odd jobs at scenic spots, each household's income has risen by 50,000 yuan per year.

Dazhao is one of many villages in Guangxi that have benefited from rural tourism. The region has plenty of tourism resources, including karst landforms, beaches, terraced fields, waterfalls and ancient towns.

To make good use of these resources, local governments have formulated plans and laid out paths to facilitate the development of the tourism industry.

Since 2021, Guangxi has allocated 370 million yuan to support the construction of public service centers, tourist centers, toilets, parking lots and self-drive campsites in rural areas, as well as cleaning up rivers and repairing cultural relics.

In 2021, Guangxi's rural areas received 386 million tourists, a year-on-year rise of 25.7 percent, while rural tourism generated 258 billion yuan, up 28.8 percent year-on-year.

Better lifestyles

Improving the rural living environment is a key task of the overall rural vitalization campaign.

In Zhongdu's Yingshan community, asphalt roads were built to connect villages, while waste and sewage treatment stations were set up, and villagers' kitchens and toilets were renovated.

"The community is clean now, and the new asphalt roads make it really convenient for us to go outside. Before, there was a lot of garbage on the dirt road," said Wang Gangcai, a Yingshan resident.

"The government gave each of us a subsidy of 800 to 1,000 yuan for kitchen upgrades and 1,200 yuan for toilet renovations."

Wang's food preparation area was once a dirt slab and he used firewood for cooking. Now, he uses liquefied gas and has a set of kitchen cabinets.

Thanks to the tourist influx, he makes several hundred extra yuan every month by selling agricultural products.

Last year, Guangxi achieved its targets for improving the living environment in rural areas: 160 million yuan was allocated to support sewage treatment and toilet renovation projects, while 723 sewage treatment stations were set up, leading to a treatment rate of 17.1 percent.

Moreover, work on 102 waste treatment facility projects was completed, and construction started on 370 domestic waste treatment facilities. Also, 5,502 dilapidated houses were renovated and tile-roofed houses were rebuilt in eight counties along the region's borders.

Transportation was further improved as 7,484 kilometers of village roads were paved or rebuilt, and asphalt roads were built in 3,948 villages. Meanwhile, 60 unsafe road bridges were renovated.

A 4G network now covers every administrative village — the smallest rural self-governing organizational unit — key agricultural industrial bases and 99 percent of regular villages, while 90 percent of them have access to fiber-optic networks.

Helping industry grow

Ma'an, a village near Dazhao, is a good example of cooperation between companies, cooperatives and residents.

Farmers used to work their own plots, but they could only grow a small amount of rice, and it was difficult to sell the produce. Now, more than 820 farmers are leasing their land to the Yuquan Rice Planting Cooperative, meaning that they no longer need to work their own land and can find jobs close to home.

The land has been combined into a 1,000-hectare modern planting base for Zhongdu Liji Rice, a company that has an automated line and sells rice both online and offline. Last year, it sold 750 metric tons, with sales revenue exceeding 10 million yuan.

"I get 1,000 yuan per 0.06 hectares for the lease of my land every year," said local resident Tan Hanzhong. "When I have time, I work at the rice factory, where I can earn 200 yuan a day."

To help rural areas develop industries, Guangxi has launched a campaign to encourage private businesses to partner with villages. Meanwhile, local banks provide financial support, releasing loans to private enterprises, cooperatives, collectives and family farms.

By the end of last year, 18,700 private companies had invested more than 1 billion yuan as they cooperated with 11,100 villages to revitalize their industries.

Zhongdu is now a model for rural vitalization in Guangxi, which has been one of the major battlefields in the poverty alleviation campaign.

Last year, Guangxi's rural residents' average disposable income was 17,400 yuan. That's lower than the national average of 20,133 yuan, but the numbers are slowly being dwarfed by the gains they have seen as a result of new projects and new investments.