Long hours

In 2010, Chen decided to move back to Xiaye to open his own guesthouse after spending most of the previous 15 years in Shanghai — leaving his parents and children behind in the village.

"We used to run a food stall in Shanghai, but we never earned more than 100,000 yuan a year, despite working long hours," Chen said.

He and his family make about 300,000 yuan a year running the homestay in Xiaye.

"I can now take care of my children, parents, and even my fields, at almost the same time, and live a much more comfortable life," he said.

The program has also helped reshape areas of Longyou county, Quzhou city, Zhejiang.

Xikou township, which once faced problems similar to those in Xiaye, was commonly referred to as "dirty, messy and poorly managed". Unlike Xiaye, which relied primarily on agriculture, Xikou once boasted one of the best-known pyrite ore mines in China.

In the early-to-mid 2010s, as the deposits dried up and local authorities strengthened industrial restructuring efforts to achieve more sustainable economic development, a large number of mine workers and their families moved out.

Miao Chenhui, an official from Xikou, said, "For a while, this place, which was once teeming with people, was deserted."

However, Miao said refurbishment work quickly transformed the township into a "rural future community", with investment of more than 200 million yuan, and with the original features of the old buildings largely retained.

The old square was equipped with benches, on which residents rest and chat. The cinema was turned into a cultural hall, the dormitories became guesthouses, and the old factories now serve as shared offices for entrepreneurs such as Jiang Peng.

A native of Longyou, Jiang, 35, decided to settle in Xikou in 2018, after quitting his job as an art director in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang. In Xikou, he launched a company making and selling agricultural products, especially those made from bamboo. Longyou is home to more than 26,666 hectares of bamboo forests.

"I had long thought of promoting the specialties of my hometown to a wider audience and helping with rural vitalization," said Jiang, whose workshop is situated in Xikou's Old Street, another area transformed through the Green Rural Revival Program, and which attracts crowds of visitors, particularly during holidays.