At dinner that first night we started to realize that there was much more to Huaxi village than most might realize. For one the village leader offered us the choice between Huaxi Wuliangye (a famous brand of baijiu) or Huaxi Changyu (a famous brand of red wine in China). The dinner included a variety of local specialties, including a kind of Yangtze river puffer fish that is poisonous if not prepared correctly. “Our chef is one of the highest ranking chefs in China,” the village leader said as he raised his glass for the umpteenth toast. I’ve lived in Chinese villages, and this was completely different.
It wasn’t until we got to Huaxi’s memorial hall that we fully realized we were in some kind of Potemkin village. At the entrance we were greeted by quotes from both Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, one simply said, “Huaxi village is blessed, blessed, truly blessed.”
The story seems to be that sometime in the late 70’s the head of the village had a dream of making everyone of the farmers wealthy. So when Deng Xiaoping opened China up to foreign investment Huaxi Cun opened factories. Through their hard work, advanced agricultural techniques, and sticking to the village head’s 10 ways of getting rich advice (big surprise that loving socialism and loving China are both very important for development), Huaxi is now the Number One Village in China.
This house was priced at 3000rmb/square M, 1/10th of the price it would be in Nanjing, the price for non-Huaxi people is much much much higher
When I asked how it was that this little village of 50,000 people was so rich, my co-worker said it was because they worked seven days a week. “So the national gov’t doesn’t give them any money?” I asked.
“No,” her husband said, “they are rich because they work 7 days a week.”
“Oh, very good,” I said staring at the model for their new tower.
The next day we had a chance to visit the model greenhouse that demonstrated the advanced agricultural techniques that had helped the village become so rich. I don’t know if I was expecting robots, tractors, or some kind of high tech watering system, but I was more than a little disappointed at what we saw: just a big greenhouse. Even the giant pumpkin they were so proud of wasn’t as impressive as the dozens (literally dozens) of billboards around town had led us to believe. Sure, it was 300 pounds, but my wife’s family had grown bigger on their small farm in Iowa.
From there we headed to Huaxi’s outpatient medical center. It struck me as more than a little strange that their PET/CT was located conveniently in the lobby. My co-worker informed me that this town of 50,000 had already purchased a PET/CT before our hospital that serves more than 2,000,000 had even been approved to acquire one. “We do almost 20 PET scans every day,” the local doctor told us.
Huaxi outpatient center
“Is that for diagnosis, or just for routine check ups?” I asked.
“All of the farmers are entitled to a free PET scan every year as a part of their check up,” he said, “for people from outside of the village one scan costs over 7,500rmb.”
For those of you less familiar with these kinds of equipment, a PET scan requires that you be injected with a small amount of radioactive material, and is of little use in a general check up. Essentially Huaxi is irradiating villagers just to show off, but because of their free healthcare, life expectancy in the village is around 80, matching Beijing and Shanghai.
One woman just turned 100 years old, and to celebrate her birthday each person in her family was given 10,000rmb (more than many farmers make in 2 years). “This teaches people to respect their elders,” my co-worker said. I couldn’t resist pointing out the picture next to the old woman’s showing a village leader offering several old men cigarettes, I’m not sure how many centenarians they could afford.
This wasn’t the only way local gov’t flashed their money. A park had been built featuring crude representations of famous buildings from around the world. At the village leader’s own birthday party he handed out hongbao (red envelopes) to each of his hundreds of guests, inside was 2,000rmb.
Also this minor waste of money
As we left the village, it seemed dirtier than before. The facade was crumbling, and the cracks on the outside of the villas showed that the village was hiding far more than we were going to uncover in a few days. Luckily for us, we’ll be invited back in a few months when the tower is complete.
Tomorrow we’ll be looking at some of the questions Huaxi Cun raises as a “model village”
I’m surprised more single mothers in the US aren’t living in villas. Seems like a lot of them work 7 days. You promised me bizarre last night and this doesn’t disappoint.
[…] Pingback: From Huaxi Cun to Potemkin Village | Seeing Red in China […]
From reading you…. and other sources…. it seems like China has many “cracks” showing up… Does anyone ever comment on when it might if ever fall down as a result?
Talking about China’s collapse is kind of like religious groups claiming that they will know when the world will end. Even when the “experts” are wrong their influence continues to grow.
I think China has lots of cracks, and is slowly starting to address many of those. I don’t think that China is close to a collapse though.
[…] 中国见红– 老外逛华西村（2） […]
Huaxi village is rich, but it is not a miracle of socialism, but an tiny empire based on outcomers’ toil and state-owned bank funds.
I am from China.
[…] Continued from yesterday At dinner that first night we started to realize that there was much more to Huaxi village than most might realize. For one the village leader offered us the choice between Huaxi Wuliangye (a famous brand of … Continue reading → […]
Yes, Huaxi village is supported by huge amount of bank funds. The leader of the village successfully took advantage of official-driven state-owned banks. I’m Chinese.
Thanks for your addition to the post. It does seem like a massive show piece instead of a workable model.
Does Huaxi need an English speaking tour guide? I love free money, villages, state run banks and happy illusions. I am American.
It didn’t sound like it, although I did shamelessly ask if they wanted foreign teachers…still waiting on the reply
Well, people of Huaxi village live a wealthy life because this small village runs a lot of lucrative enterprises. Instead of promoting privatization plans like most other parts of China, these enterprises belongs to all village inhabitants, so they all benefit from the growing economy.
As the 9th tallest building, that is not a government project. Some village inhabitants raised the money(10M RMB/or 1.5MUSD each) and will share the profit or loss.
PET/CT is excellent for cancer detection at its very early stage. So many rich people in china was pursuade by doctors to take this kind of scans once every 1-2 years. Of course you must ballance the risk yourself. By the way, we are the software provider for Huaxi’s PET/CT. Cancer patients are confirmed by the machine every month.
I think it sets a good example of a welfare society, a society with less gap between rich and poor.
Doing PET/CT without a reason though isn’t a great way to find cancer, you need to know somewhat what you are looking for. Also the fact that this clinic received permission before many cities in China to buy a PET/CT machine shows that it gets considerable amounts of special treatment.
Huaxi Cun is a perfect example of the so called Township-Villiage Enterprise model. With its strong tie with the state government, Huaxi Cun was able to enter into productive sectors such as steel and textile, which few private firms were allowed at that time. There was also an absence of rule of law protecting private property rights and strong anit-private business ideology. The local community ownership provided necessary political protection. In the 1980s, the Township-Villiage Enterprise model became the engine of growth and the driving force for the market-oriented reform.