'Yimeng spirit' still inspires

Lijiazhai, a former backwater village in Linyi's Junan county, has been turned into an affluent, livable place thanks to the efforts of several generations of residents.

Land there was barren and water was scarce. In 1951, led by the village's Party committee members, villagers started to build irrigation facilities and create arable land, reclaiming it from mountains.

"At that time, we didn't have excavators and explosives to make a dent in the mountain. We just used manual labor and brute force, working day and night," says Li Yueqin, 77.

With a decade of effort, the village created over 330 hectares of arable land with high yield of grain.

To increase villagers' income, in the 1990s, the Party committee led villagers to plant cherry trees.

"The net income per capita in our village has increased to 22,000 yuan from 2,000 yuan 20 years ago," says Li Mingcong, Party secretary of the village.

"We are living in buildings equipped with elevators. We have schools, squares and a library," he says.

In September 2019, a high-speed railway reached the Yimeng Mountain area. The railway stops at the village, greatly boosting tourism, says Li Mingcong.

"We are using the Yimeng spirit in the new era to work hard and create a better life. The spirit is alive everywhere around us," he says.