Turning tide

Things started to change when Gai Ruyin was appointed Party chief of Harbin. "He started dropping by the village, unannounced and without an entourage, to conduct field investigations," Yang recalled. "Villagers didn't recognize him at first and were quite unfriendly."

In fact, Gai revealed in an interview with China Daily last year (before he was transferred elsewhere) that colleagues had attempted to discourage him from approaching areas with massive grievances. Yet, he thought differently. Only by getting close to the source of the problem can you come up with a solution, he said.

First, the compensation money 270 million yuan in total was finally distributed after being held up for five years. For most villagers, the sum was equivalent to a year's revenue before the flood-diversion zone.

Luo used the money "about 10,000 yuan per person" to pay back his loan. "We could have harvested 15,000 kg of corn, which now sells for 1.6 yuan to 1.8 yuan per kg," he said, ruefully.

Villagers still vehemently protest the classification of the submerged land. "There were households living below the embankment more than 100 years ago. Although they moved to higher ground later on, they had always farmed on it," said Xu Yongfu, another villager.

However, Gai brought with him more than just compensation. He had a grand plan: To turn the submerged area into one of the country's largest urban wetlands.

He also decided to give Shengli the management rights to the part of wetland that used to be farmland. The plan was not finalized until February last year and construction started on March 15. Yang put in tens of millions of yuan from the village's collective compensation fund.

There was not enough money to employ a design firm. Based on their knowledge from working for others, villagers drafted designs and implemented them immediately. Only two and a half months were left before the first wetland festival, with tourists set to descend on their previously out-of-way homeland.

At the busiest time, there were as many as 300 to 400 people laboring in the wetland. They were all aware that their future relied on what they were working on. Of the 30 million yuan that went into the project, around 500,000 yuan was shaved off the cost because villagers volunteered en masse.