Thirty Years in Luxi

In an ordinary little village in northwestern Shandong, the winds of reform swept through as it experienced thirty years of rapid development. The villagers gradually escaped a backward, precarious existence and grew prosperous, climbing aboard the train of reform and opening up toward a happier life. At night, the village was lit only by the small kerosene lamps in each household. Then, in response to the national call to bring electricity to every village, power lines reached theirs, illuminating the road ahead for the village's reforms. The village's only sweet-water well had to be filled in, leaving people struggling to find drinking water and forced to haul it from outside the village. The village Party secretary braved every obstacle, making trips to the county seat and town to get running water installed. Under the leadership of the town chief and the village secretary, the villagers took up livestock farming, built greenhouses, went out to work, and contracted farmland, gradually setting out on the road to prosperity.