eye Lanzhou

In 2005, then-World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz visited Ma Sheba's home in Dongchuan Village, Yongdeng County, Lanzhou, asking about the future of the children. Ma Sheba expressed his hope that his children could find job in the city. Twenty years later, as the 15th Five-Year Plan begins and all-round rural revitalization continues to advance, we retrace those steps to Dongchuan Village—now part of Lanzhou New Area—to find the people from that time and capture the transformation. 

The small home of the past is now a household of three generations. The village's dirt roads have become asphalt. The transformation of home and the extension of roads bear witness to the implementation of issues relating toagriculture, rural areas, and farmers from the Two Sessions and the sustained efforts of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and enrich rural areas, For Ma Sheba, the hardship and resilience for survival back then remain etched in his heart and deeply rooted in the collective memory of Dongchuan Village.

The school days he missed became a lasting regret in his heart. As life improved, that regret transformed into a steadfast belief in the importance of education, resonating with the national strategy of revitalizing rural areas through education and becoming a cornerstone of all-round rural revitalization.

Two decades at one table. The talk has shifted from making ends meet to the shared joy of seeing their family and all of Dongchuan Village thrive together. 

Changing outlook create a better life. The national rural revitalization plan's call to cultivate leaders in rural industrial revitalization comes to life in Ma Sheba's four sons. Instead of migrating to cities for work, they have rooted themselves in their hometown to start businesses. The eldest runs a window and door factory; the third and fourth sons operate beef noodle shops in Lanzhou New Area. The father who once hoped his children would go out now witnesses them establishing solid foundations and achieving success close to home, also a microcosm of urban-rural integration in Northwest China.

Revitalizing a village starts with revitalizing education. Through the village's collective efforts, valuing education has become a shared commitment across Dongchuan Village. This reflects the sustained focus of the Two Sessions on improving rural education quality and the implementation of policies in the Plan for All-around Rural Revitalization (2024-2027) to "raise the quality of rural education and optimize the county-level educational layout". Today, a four-story primary school stands here. A village fund gives grants to kids in need, ensuring no one drops out due to financial hardship. The seeds of education have quietly taken root in this land, sprouting in hope.

An individual's fate is always tightly bound to their land. a piece of land's rise or fall is connected to national development. The transformation of Ma Sheba's family reflects the great changes in Dongchuan Village over twenty years. Through the successive implementation of national strategies like targeted poverty alleviation and rural revitalization, this village has undergone a quiet yet profound transformation.

In Dongchuan Village, the land was once the only hope against poverty. But the old backbreaking routine has transformed. This is the practical result of national policies aimed at enhancing the overall production capacity and cultivating new types of agribusiness. Led by the village committee and built with the participation of villagers, Shuangbo Paper Co., Ltd. emerged.

From the Water Diversion Project from Datong River to Qinwangchuan District to the relief provided by targeted poverty alleviation loans, from a past of relying solely on the land to today's rural industrial revitalization bringing enterprises into the village—the blueprint for rural areas drawn up at the Two Sessions has materialized into precise policies, nurturing this once-parched land.

Some conversations only reveal significance across time. The question back then was about survival; the answer given today is about the abundance of life. The changes over twenty years bear witness to the unwavering commitment of the Party and the nation to prioritizing agriculture, rural areas, and farmers and demonstrate the immense power of the all-round rural revitalization strategy.

Dongchuan's tale is a classic example among thousands of rural revitalization stories across China. It's a conversation between past and present, connecting the resonance between an individual and the era. From the transformation of Ma Sheba's family to a village lifting its future together; from land at the mercy of the heavens to a home of thriving industry and shared purposes—these have been twenty years of striving, of growing.

As the 15th Five-Year Plan period starts, the blueprint for agricultural and rural modernization is steadily unfolding. The story of Dongchuan Village is far from over. The revitalization chapters of thousands of Chinese villages, guided by national strategies, stride forward towards an even brighter future.

翻译：赵蕊

二校：温纪超

三校：赵雨欣