A Way Toward Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Development Path
A Way Toward Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Development Path offers a firsthand, deeply practical account of poverty alleviation and sustainable rural development in China. The author, Wenkui Liu, has spent twenty years working with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), rooted in some of the country’s most impoverished villages. Through trial and error, he and his colleagues forged a market-oriented development model based on villagers’ cooperatives. The book is written in a fluent, engaging style, blending personal narrative with critical analysis, and provides clear answers to the most pressing problems facing rural areas today.
The book is structured around three major case studies. The first, from Daliangshan in Sichuan, reveals that simply pooling financial and material resources is insufficient to break the cycle of poverty. While such efforts brought visible changes, they failed to achieve sustainable development. The lesson: rural areas must develop industrial projects that participate in market competition, which requires transforming traditional smallholder production methods. The second case, from Minle Village in Gansu, builds on this insight. The CFPA introduced a cooperative-based, industry-oriented model, recognizing the value of modern enterprise systems and villagers’ cooperation. Although the industrial project ultimately failed, the experience highlighted the crucial role of village leaders in changing mindsets. The third case, from Ganda Village in Qinghai, demonstrates success: mobilizing capable local leaders to run market-oriented, cooperative-based industrial projects. Ganda transformed from a village too poor to afford yogurt into a prosperous community.
Since 2013, the CFPA has applied these lessons more widely. Two flagship initiatives emerged: the Baimei Village Homestay Project, which turns villagers’ old houses into rural boutique homestays for urban visitors, and the Shanpin Commune Project, which connects high-quality agricultural products directly with end consumers via e commerce platforms. The homestay project now operates in twenty villages, and the Shanpin Commune will reach one hundred villages by the end of the year. A Way Toward Rural Revitalization and Sustainable Development Path is an invaluable resource for practitioners and researchers alike, offering not only analysis but proven solutions for sustainable rural development.