BEIJING, Nov. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At dawn, the village of Lizu in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province, is often awakened by three sounds: the hissing of coffee machines, the crackle of packing tape sealing parcels, and the cheerful chime of doors opening as new entrepreneurs arrive to start a busy day.
This vibrant scene is hard to imagine for a place that was once shunned by its own villagers, who felt embarrassed to mention their hometown and saw no hope for development. Today, Lizu has transformed into an "international cultural entrepreneur village," a lively hub where young people gather to start businesses and pursue dreams.
The transformation was the result of more than 20 years of persistent effort. In 2003, Zhejiang launched the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project, marking the beginning of Lizu's metamorphosis. Starting with cleaning up a foul-smelling pond at the village entrance, Lizu gradually evolved from a dirty, poor, and neglected place into a "national civilized village."
In July 2020, Lizu pioneered a village CEO model, introducing an entrepreneurial space that provides young business founders with comprehensive support in policy, funding, and training. In just a few years, this once remote and resource-scarce mountain village has attracted 271 young entrepreneurs, giving rise to 73 startup projects such as tie-dye studios, family farms, cafés, and markets. By 2024, the village's collective income has reached 4.64 million yuan ($652,000), with a per capita disposable income of 66,000 yuan.
During an inspection of Zhejiang on September 20, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, noted that Lizu village has achieved solid progress in promoting common prosperity. He also expressed hope that the village will make further efforts and achieve more results in advancing rural revitalization.
The 20th Central Committee of the CPC concluded its fourth plenary session on October 23 in Beijing with a communique issued. The communique clearly states that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, it will "move forward with people-centered new urbanization" and "work harder to ensure and improve public wellbeing and promote common prosperity for all." These arrangements highlight that the new five-year plan consistently centers on enhancing the improvement of people's well-being.
"This is exactly what gives us confidence to stay rooted in the countryside. From Lizu's transformation, I have truly felt how national policies translate step by step into real gains for ordinary people," said Jin Jing, who is in charge of the village's business operations and often dubbed the CEO of Lizu, told the Global Times.
In the Volume V of the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, the article "Prioritize the People's Wellbeing in Chinese Modernization" states: "The whole Party should further apply the people-centered philosophy of development and give higher priority to common prosperity as specified at the 20th CPC National Congress. We should make sustained and steady efforts, do all we can within our capacity, and make more notable and substantive progress towards this goal through high-quality development."
"We hope that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Lizu's development story will continue to serve as a window for the world to observe how China 'unswervingly manages our own affairs well,' and as a living example of how China sustains its twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term social stability," Jin said.
From poverty alleviation to rural revitalization, from the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project to the pursuit of common prosperity — how do these national strategies take root and flourish in one small village? Lizu's answer is written in the fingertips of its entrepreneurs, the smiles of its villagers, and the accounts of its common prosperity.
'Many hands make light work'
"I used to work on cultural and creative park projects in cities. The reason I chose to settle in the countryside is that the deepening of the 'Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation' project has completely changed rural landscapes in Zhejiang. The return of young people to the countryside further activates those development achievements," said Jin, recalling how she first connected with Lizu village.
Today, native villagers, "returnees," and "newcomers" gather in Lizu. Abandoned farmhouses have become shared office spaces for young entrepreneurs who bring new ideas and creativity to open new paths for village development.
Back in 2003, Xi, then Party chief of Zhejiang Province, planned, deployed, and advanced the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" project. Since then, thousands of villages in Zhejiang have undergone earth-shaking changes. Villagers still recall that there was once no proper road out of Lizu - they had to detour through neighboring villages. It was this project that turned a "poor mountain village, despised even by its own residents," into a "beautiful countryside admired by city dwellers."
After improving the environment, the question became how to further unleash the village's potential. After visiting and studying other successful areas, the "two committees" of Lizu village — namely, the village-level Party branch committee and the villagers' committee — turned their focus to Jin, who had experience in agricultural brand management, to join. At first, she hesitated: "Lizu has no resources or industries. How can we revive it? Managing an entire village as a professional manager has never been done before. Can I really make a difference?"
But the village committees did not give up. They repeatedly visited her, bringing along detailed plans and heartfelt appeals. This sincerity and determination prompted Jin to seriously explore ways to break the deadlock. "Actually, a village CEO isn't just one individual; it's a professional operation team and system," Jin told the Global Times. She believed that rural development has never been a "one-person battle" - it relies on collective wisdom and systematic operation. And her team, she believed, could just be the "bellwether" that connects resources and drives entrepreneurship.
With this clarity, Jin no longer hesitated. In August 2020, she led her team to officially settle in Lizu village, with a clear and firm strategy in mind: "Rely on people" - not only her own team, but more importantly, the collective strength of more entrepreneurs. The team immediately set out to build a mass innovation space and launched a "move-in-ready" model, providing agricultural entrepreneurs with full-chain services such as policy connection, skill training, and venue support. "Many hands make light work," Jin said. "Only by pooling everyone's wisdom could we truly activate the village's internal driving force."
Shortly after settling in, Jin put forward a bold request to Houzhai Sub-district - where Lizu village is located: To provide a 2,000-square-meter space for building a mass innovation platform. Soon, this space became an "incubation platform" for entrepreneurs. Jin's team rolled out full-chain services: From one-on-one guidance in the early stage, to large-scale training in the later stage, and later practical training driven by entrepreneurship competitions. These services covered multiple functions including career guidance, project incubation, and e-commerce training.
Meanwhile, the village's two committees also stepped up, launching a combined policy package of "rent-free venue period + green channel for financing + talent apartments." This package significantly lowered the threshold for young people to return or move to the village to start businesses.
Power of 'ownership'
What makes Jin most proud is that despite its rapid growth, Lizu village has avoided speculative capital bubbles or urban-rural tensions. "What we have is vitality stimulated by policy support, and a warm backdrop as we work toward the goal of common prosperity," she said.
In Lizu village, "common prosperity" has never been just a slogan, but a tangible sense of participation that villagers can see and feel. For example, a local restaurant called Pea Flower Country Kitchen was jointly funded by 34 households, each contributing 5,000 yuan per share. The highest-earning villager now receives 60,000 yuan in annual dividends. At Mom's Flavor Food Street and the Common Prosperity Market, local villagers are everywhere running stalls, even a 95-year-old villager has joined in. More job opportunities have taken root right at the villagers' doorsteps. Lou Shamoshuang, a Gen Z entrepreneur specializing in tie-dye, designed "Common Prosperity Rabbit" pendants. These pendants became popular for their cute design and auspicious meanings, helping more than 20 skilled women from eight nearby villages increase their monthly income by 3,000 yuan. Wu Luping, who married into Lizu village, works as a clerk at the village's import store. When talking about her "two-minute commute to work every day," her smile full of contentment.
In Lizu village, entrepreneurial teams have gone a step further by organizing activities that resonate with the villagers. Open-air karaoke sessions let villagers of all ages -young, middle-aged, and seniors - sing together on the same stage. For village fashion shows, no professional models are invited; instead, "aunts" walk the runway in clothes made of hand-woven cloth, showcasing their confidence. During the Double Ninth Festival, also known as Seniors' Day or the Chongyang Festival in China on October 29, volunteers visited seniors at home to repair their household appliances and teach them to use new functions on their mobile phones.
"Rural entrepreneurship isn't about scale; it's about warm details," Jin told the Global Times with pride, sharing a specific example. Lizu Monthly Talk, the village's newspaper, has specially set up warm-hearted sections like "Good News in the Village" and "Important and Trivial Matters of Lizu Village's Cats and Dogs." The pages are filled with small daily matters, such as which family had a good vegetable harvest or which entrepreneur became a mother, but these details let every villager see their own lives in the pages and truly feel the warmth of being cared for and remembered.
From 'village model' to 'global window'
Jin has never stopped her efforts. She has been on the move across various places, busy connecting with funds and cultural investment institutions, facilitating the implementation of various projects such as homestay clusters and the village's MCN company.
During her business trips, Jin often hears comments like, "Lizu village is like a miniature version of Yiwu International Trade Market" — the world's largest wholesale market for small commodities — because in Lizu, entrepreneurs spare no effort to deepen their industries. Villagers proactively participate in entrepreneurship to boost their income, and everyone shares the drive to "develop solidly and expand globally."
Jin said that she is proud that this village, filled with "warm details," has never lost its inherent quality of looking outward and forging ahead with determination.
This enterprising spirit has also helped Lizu village gradually resolve new development dilemmas in recent years. With only a few hundred residents and an area of 0.9 square kilometers, Lizu has extremely limited development space. In 2024, Houzhai sub-district took the lead in establishing the "Greater Lizu Common Prosperity Alliance," extending Lizu village's successful experience to eight surrounding villages to form a joint development force. The alliance has coordinated the implementation of 81 projects to strengthen villages and enrich residents, striving to expand the "prosperity of one village" to the "prosperity of all villages." By the end of August this year, the total collective operating income of the area had reached 11.46 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.5 percent.
Today, the alliance has selected 26 village cadres in four batches to participate in on-the-job training in Lizu village. They engage in immersive learning of the "Lizu Methodology" for rural development, covering everything from homestay operation and cultural and creative development to policy connection. This mature training system has also extended beyond the area and been deeply integrated into Zhejiang's "1,000 Village CEO Training Plan," passing on the practical experience of the operation team to rural development leaders across the province.
Even more encouraging is that the Lizu experience is accelerating its journey to the world. "We have already conducted multiple training sessions for trainees from countries such as Egypt, Laos, and Vietnam, and many international organizations have taken the initiative to invite us to give lectures abroad," Jin said with obvious pride.
The year 2025 marks the final year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), as well as the final year of the five-year transitional period for consolidating and expanding the achievements in poverty alleviation and integrating them with rural revitalization. Standing at the intersection of the 14th and 15th Five-Year Plans, Jin said that entrepreneurs in Lizu village have a clear plan for the village's future development: building an agricultural product deep processing center, establishing a regional rural entrepreneurs alliance, and encouraging entrepreneurs to deeply participate in village decision-making.
In Jin's mind, the daily scene of entrepreneurs and villagers working side by side is the most vivid illustration of Chinese modernization in rural areas: Everyone with a dream can find a stage to shine in the countryside, and every villager rooted here can share in the fruits of development.
She told the Global Times that this people-centered path of co-governance and shared benefits will surely enable Lizu village to move more steadily and go further on the new journey of the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
