Life in Daxi Village Continues to Improve

Daxi Village is situated in Yuli County in Xinjiang's Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture. It sits in the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains and on edge of the Taklamakan Desert. The village was once a vast expanse of barren land unsuitable for farming. But following the PRC's founding and especially the introduction of reform and opening up, officials and residents of various ethnic groups worked as one to promote development and collectively moved toward prosperity under the guidance of the local Party organization.

In June 2009, Xi Jinping visited Daxi Village to inspect primary-level Party development efforts. In 2014, the residents at the village wrote to President Xi to inform him of the changes they had experienced since his visit. In September of that year, the president sent a letter of reply, in which he wrote that he "often thought of the residents of Daxi."

He also expressed the hope that "the village Party branch will fulfill its crucial role, become a focal point for uniting village residents to strengthen their commitment and confidence for following the Party's lead, ensure that all households benefit from the Party's good policies, achieve better results in development, foster stronger ethnic unity, and continue to improve the lives of villagers."

Bearing in mind the instructions of President Xi, the Party organization in Daxi Village has implemented the Party's policies and rallied people of various ethnic groups to promote development, production, and ethnic solidarity. In the new era, the village is exhibiting new vitality and realizing new achievements that are creating better lives for its people.

A tour group of around a thousand people arrive in Daxi Village, June 15, 2021. Tapping into the continuous growth of tourism in Xinjiang, Daxi Village has, in recent years, developed rural tourism, creating jobs and business opportunities for its residents. PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT OF THE CPC YULI COUNTY COMMITTEE / PHOTO BY GUO BAOYU

Strengthening Party organizations as a focal point for fostering unity

Each Monday morning, villagers gather in front of the village committee building for a weekly national flag-raising ceremony. This ceremony has become a conscious habit of the local people.

"Always listen to the Party's instructions and follow its lead." This is the motto of the people of Daxi and the secret behind the village's transformation.

In the past, the land at the village had high levels of salinity and alkalinity. There were no forests or arable fields, and natural disasters were frequent. In the early 1980s, under the leadership of the village Party branch, Party officials began working with residents to improve irrigation networks, carry out desilting, and treat the saline-alkaline soil. They planted trees to protect farmland from wind erosion and initiated a major push to develop grain production, working tenaciously to turn barren soil into good farmland. The competent and determined Party organization formed the focal point of these efforts, with villagers responding positively to each call it issued.

Genuine prosperity is not realized with one or two people getting wealthy but with everyone growing prosperous together. Recognizing this, Daxi Village established a household liaison system for Party officials to lead villagers in collectively achieving prosperity. For the fight against poverty, 49 Party officials were paired with impoverished villagers and signed letters of responsibility undertaking to continue the pairing until their partners had risen from poverty. Party members could be found participating in all work around the village from topping cotton to breeding cattle and sheep, delivering lambs, and pruning and watering plants. Following years of hard work, villagers have already shaken off poverty and realized moderate prosperity.

In 2016, Daxi Village ushered in major changes: A village Party committee was established, and Party branches were set up within village residents groups. At the same time, an initiative was launched to introduce higher standards for the village Party organization, with the aim of strengthening the guiding role of Party development and giving full play to the crucial role of Party organizations in rural revitalization.

In recent years, roads have been paved, residents have moved into new homes, natural gas has been installed, and people have begun buying cars. Reflecting on these changes, village resident Isa Hoshur remarked, "The Party's great deeds are like the snow lotuses of the Tianshan Mountains—clearly visible and large in number."

Staying closely united like the seeds of a pomegranate

"True happiness lies not in material wealth but in unity and harmony." This is an important precept that the people of Daxi firmly adhere to.

In the 1980s, villagers built what is known today as Unity Canal. In 2010, Daxi led the way in launching a "pair up and become family" program, enabling people of various ethnic groups to unite as one in realizing prosperity in the new era. In the village, as President Xi Jinping noted in his letter of reply, "The people of various ethnic groups, like desert poplars that join their roots together, have formed a tight bond, and their lives have continued to improve."

In Daxi, traditional festivals are celebrated with neighbors. At the annual New Year gathering, the calligraphy bearing the character Fu, a symbol of happiness and good fortune, is presented to each family. During the Spring Festival, neighbors visit each other to offer best wishes. At the Nowruz Festival, everyone sings and dances together. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people sit beneath the grapevines, enjoying mooncakes and admiring the moon. During the Korban Festival or Eid al-Adha, everyone joins in the joyful meshrep gathering. Here, everybody is part of one big family, sharing in the good times together.

During our interviews, many villagers said that "We Daxi people are not like grains of loose sand but pomegranate seeds that are united closely together."

Developing diversified industries and scoring new achievements

In 2021, the 320 farming households of Daxi Village used their land to take a share in the village's new economic cooperative. The cooperative has generated income of 1.53 million yuan, enabling residents to enjoy the dividends of reforming the village's collective property rights system. This is just the most recent initiative Daxi Village has adopted to help enrich the people.

"President Xi's letter of reply has been a source of motivation driving Daxi Village forward," said Guzainuer Mehmet, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Xingping Town and concurrently secretary of the Party Committee of Daxi Village. "In recent years, we have actively explored and continuously broadened the avenues for  achieving prosperity in conjunction with efforts to build a beautiful village."

To promote rural revitalization, Daxi has also leveraged digital technology. Continuing to broaden the applications of digital agriculture, the village is working to make a shift to "smart farming" and has already realized advances that have obviated the need for villagers to visit their plots every day. At the same time, Daxi is also seizing opportunities to develop e-commerce. It has established an e-commerce entrepreneurship base, and products from Daxi and surrounding villages, like bluish dogbane, Luobu mutton, and dried fruit, enjoy brisk market online.

Tourism has become another avenue for villagers to increase their incomes. Tapping into the continuous growth of tourism in Xinjiang in recent years, Daxi Village has begun to develop rural tourism, which has created employment and business opportunities for residents. The village now has a cultural street, a commercial strip, and a night market. Villagers have opened farmhouse gardens, homestays, and pear gardens to give shape to a new pattern of rural tourism for Daxi Village.

"Why do our lives continue to improve?" asks Guzainuer Mehmet. "It is," he answers, "because of the deep concern shown by President Xi, the good policies of the Party, and the concerted efforts of all involved. The common understanding among the people of Daxi is that we can build an even better village by listening to the Party's instructions, showing gratitude toward the Party, and following its lead."

(Originally appeared in Qiushi Journal, Chinese edition, No. 11-12, 2022)