Ten years ago, a group of young adults arrived in Rongzhong Village of Fujian Province in southeast China to learn from the village’s development experience. They came one month after Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, had visited the village and called on his fellow Chinese citizens to “work together in the pursuit of a prosperous life.” At that point, Rongzhong was already famous for its economic development, with its main economic indicators ranking at the forefront of Fujian’s rural economies.
The group was from Yuangudui Village of Weiyuan County in Dingxi, Gansu Province in northwest China.
As of late 2012, the per-capita annual income in Yuangudui stood at 1,465 yuan ($211), well below the then
