Village embodies Xi's philosophy

Editor's note: China Daily is presenting the series Visionary Pathway to tell the stories of practices and key initiatives promoted by President Xi Jinping during his tenure in various local regions, exploring their transformative impacts and interpreting the consistent values, thoughts and philosophies upheld by the president.

A brisk dawn wind carried a salty tang across Aojiao village as fishing boats glided in with the tide, their cabins loaded with crab, squid tubes and the occasional grouper.

Along the shoreline, 59-year-old fisherman Shen Zhiqun was busy unloading fresh catches with his son, after nights spent navigating the shimmering expanse of the sea.

Shen's fishing vessel is outfitted with state-of-the-art fishing technologies, and the development of cold chain systems has allowed his catches to reach markets far beyond the coastal village — thanks in part to e-commerce platforms.

However, he said that his 40 years of experience in fishing remained the key to guaranteeing a bumper harvest from each of his fishing trips.

"To me, fishing in the ocean is like going through college. It requires experience, learning from the older generation and taking lessons from the sea," he said.

Nestled at the southeastern tip of Dongshan county, Aojiao has undergone a dramatic transformation, from a small village to a vibrant fishing community, over the past two decades — a change that captured national attention when President Xi Jinping visited in October last year.

It was Xi's second trip to the coastal hamlet, and came 23 years after his first visit in 2001, when he served as the province's governor.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, praised the village's evolution over the past 23 years and conveyed an optimistic tone about an even brighter future for rural areas and a more vibrant life for farmers.

The village's transformation has been widely seen as a validation of Xi's vision for diversifying the nation's food supply and broadening the channels of income for rural residents.

Aojiao, dubbed the nation's most beautiful fishing village, now boasts 88 registered steel-hulled fishing boats and a total of 603 smaller fishing vessels, pushing its annual marine output value past 330 million yuan ($45.3 million) in 2023. Furthermore, the development of aquaculture, e-commerce and rural tourism has broadened the channels of income for village residents, whose average annual disposable income has reached 58,000 yuan.

During his visit last year, Xi fondly recalled that during his first trip to Aojiao in 2001, he already foresaw the village's enormous potential.

"When I was working in Fujian, I noticed that our island communities held tremendous promise. That's when I proposed leveraging both the mountains and the sea — using mountain resources if you live by the mountains, and using the sea if you live by the sea," he said.

Liang Caiyi, an analyst with the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Aojiao's success story has proved correct the long-standing emphasis from Xi that rural areas should tailor their development strategies to local resources.

"A consistent governance philosophy underlies both the president's vision of leveraging the mountains and the sea and the all-encompassing approach to food," she said.

Meanwhile, the village's proper protection of its ocean ecology and environment, and the thriving of rural tourism today, also exemplify the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, she added.