Xi's strategy brings grads back to village

The couple are among the dozens of college graduates who have returned to set up their own businesses in Sanjianxi village.

"We have been asking young people to return to the village by providing them with incentives such as land at a lower cost and startup funding," said Gao Shuzhen, Party chief of the village. "With such things, young people can run businesses at a low cost, provide jobs to local farmers and activate resources in the village," she said.

Located about 50 kilometers to the east of Jinan, Sanjianxi village, with a population of 3,380, has convenient transportation facilities.

The village has long been hampered by poor soil quality. Through the cultivation of corn and wheat, each household was able to make no more than 2,000 yuan per year.

The village administration has established enterprises to help farmers to manage the land. Farmers can decide whether to transfer the user rights of their land to these public enterprises.

So far, the village has been granted user rights on more than 200 hectares of land. On this land, an agricultural park, ecological livestock-breeding areas and an industrial park have been developed, and these have provided jobs to more than 80 percent of the village's workforce.

Li Xiumei, 47, a farmer in the village, has been working for a port processing company for four years. In addition to the income that her family earns for having transferred land use rights, she is earning 2,000 yuan per month by working for the company.

"It takes me only a few minutes to reach the company from home, which helps me to take care of my parents," she said.

Li Xiumei expects that her son will go into business in the village after graduation, although she said that decision will be up to him.