“The direct drinking fountains have been installed in the village, and the water is sweeter. The district government has also subsidized us to install solar thermal heating equipment. We are living a happy life now!” smiled Zhang Fuguang, a 72-year-old villager of Zhangmafang Village, Qinhuangdao Development Zone.
Located in the western area of Qinhuangdao Development Zone, there are 320 people from 128 households in Zhangmafang Village, which was transformed from Funing county to Qinhuangdao Development Zone in 2010, Zhang Fuguang and his family were not rural people anymore, they lived together in two courtyards.
Zhang Fuguang is installing solar thermal heating equipment on the roof of his house. Photo by Wang Jijun
“This well was dug more than 40 years ago, and it is only seven or eight meters deep. Pouring some water into the center of the well, and pressing hard repeatedly, that is how we get drinking water.” Zhang Fuguang recalled, “Every family has a well like this, the water tastes bitter, and our ancestors lived on this kind of water for a long time.”
The old well has served the Zhangs for ten years until they dug another automatic pumping well of 30 meters deep in 2000, which improved the quality of drinking water.
With the change of the Development Zone, the life of Zhang Fuguang’s family has also undergone tremendous changes.
His son Zhang Yongsheng became a forklift worker for a Japanese-funded enterprise after a skill training conducted by the Development Zone. His daughter-in-law Li Hong, 45 years old this year, has been working as a farmer in the village until she got a work in the canteen of the district office in 2012, and then a chief after participating in the free technical training organized by the district. “I can earn more than 3,000 yuan a month, with the salary of my husband, we can earn as much as those who live in the town. Now we are living a well-off life.” rejoiced Li Hong.
Li Hong picks cabbage in her courtyard. Photo by Wang Jijun
In recent years, the water level of the wells in the village has been lowering. In 2015, the poverty relief working group of the Publicity Department of Hebei Provincial Party Committee dug a well over 90 meters deep for the village, which provides villagers with sweet water, and it is hailed as a “treasure well.”
Qinhuangdao Development Zone has done a good job in reassuring villagers in drinking water and farmland.
The “Implementation Plan for Land-expropriated Farmers Participating in Basic Endowment Insurance in Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone” was formulated in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and actual conditions of the district, which prescribes that the male land-expropriated farmers over 45 years old and females over 40 years old can get additional personal account pensions at the age of 60 if they participate in the basic endowment insurance for urban and rural residents; those who have not meet the conditions can get pensions as the flexible employment participating in the basic endowment insurance for enterprise employees, and a 15-year annual insurance subsidy will be offered by the Development Zone no matter what kind of basic endowment insurance you participate in.
Zhang Fuguang and his wife Zhang Huixian are making dry red peppers. Photo by Wang Jijun
Both Zhang Fuguang and his wife are in their 70s. They have a pension insurance of more than 3,000 yuan per month, and a heating allowance of 1,240 yuan per year. They live a comfortable life, growing flowers and vegetables, and raising poultry.
Qinhuangdao Development Zone has carried out a drinking water safety improvement project in rural area in 2020, and installed 44 direct drinking water stations in some villages, with an investment of more than 3 million yuan. The water can meet the direct drinking standards after being filtered, disinfected and sterilized, and villagers can take waters with their water cards. 4 liters of direct drinking water can be provided to per person per day. “Now that the government has installed a water purifier on the ‘Treasure Well’, we can also drink sweet water like people in the city.” Zhang Fuguang rejoiced.
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