Villagers out of poverty, into dancing

Fujian area's prosperity gives women time to take part in fun, healthy activity

At 6:30 pm every day, Zeng Yanhong joins about 60 other women in Boyang village's public square to dance the night away.

Their repertoire covers a range of dance styles, from folk to shuffle and even ballroom.

"Thanks to our village's development in recent years, almost every household owns a house and a car," Zeng, 46, said. "And every villager can earn several thousand yuan a month without leaving home, so we have the time and energy for such recreational exercise to keep ourselves happy and healthy."

Boyang, a village in Fuding, Fujian province, used to be poverty-stricken and only accessible by foot.

When Zeng moved to Boyang with her husband more than 20 years ago, most villagers lived in shabby wooden houses in the mountains and the villagers' per capita income was less than 600 yuan a year.

Under the leadership of Wang Zhouqi, who gave up his own business and returned home to serve as Boyang's Party head in 1994, villagers started to grow waxberries and breed mudskippers to boost their incomes.

In 2000, the whole village was relocated down from the mountains thanks to a resettlement program, and all its households, including Zeng's family, moved into three-or four-story buildings.

As the village was gradually connected to the outside by newly built expressways and railway lines, Boyang opened up land in 2002 for use as an industrial park to bring in investment and enterprises.

The Boyang industrial park, now covering an area of 33.3 hectares, has attracted eight enterprises with a total annual output value of 2.2 billion yuan ($316.5 million) and provides employment for more than 1,300 villagers.

Wang said the next step for the village will be to develop tertiary industry by opening hotels and supermarkets to provide services for people working for the industrial park and a nearby nuclear power station.

"In recent years, many villagers, who were farmers before, have become self-employed business people, private business owners or even enterprise shareholders," Wang said, noting that some villagers can earn more than 30,000 yuan a month by renting their houses and running noodle stalls.

Last year, the per capita disposable income of Boyang villagers was 28,976 yuan.