Dahe Anlan Home A Century Long Dream Come True for a Village by the Yellow River

In September, the sunlight bathed Lihexincun, a village in Jiucheng Town, Juancheng County, Shandong Province. Rows of single-family houses with gray roofs and white walls stood neatly arranged along the spacious, level village roads; at the cultural square, several elderly residents were leisurely exercising and chatting.

Guo Zhirong, 73 years old, was using fitness equipment to stretch his limbs, his face beaming with joy. This former Party secretary of Wangzhuang Village still vividly remembers the moment he received the keys to his new home five years ago: "I was the first person in the village to get the keys; holding them in my hand, I felt both excited and reassured," he said. At that time, the entire village had gathered around the village platform, their faces lighting up with smiles until their eyes grew reddish.

That key did not merely unlock the door to a two-story residence of 144 square meters with a private courtyard; it also marked the beginning of a new chapter for the 6,526 residents living across 2,104 households in Liuhe New Village – enabling them to bid farewell to the hardships of living in a "waterlogged" environment.

The Yellow River flows vigorously across the southwestern region of Shandong Province, having once left deep scars from devastating floods in this area. For generations, the residents of the riverbank communities have struggled with numerous challenges—such as transportation, accessing medical care, attending school, and securing stable housing; yet the most poignant of these was the often-repeated "Three-Year Cycle": three years for building the foundation, three years for constructing the house, and three years to repay the debts. Guo Zhirong still vividly remembers living in the old village on the riverbank back then—every household's house foundation had been raised to an extremely high level, the slopes were steep and the roads slippery; "As soon as it got dark, the elderly dared not leave their homes, fearing they might fall off the edge." The village didn't even have a proper road; wedding carriages couldn't enter, and brides had to be carried into the village by others. "At that time, our village had about 700 residents, yet there were more than a dozen unmarried young men." The transformation began in 2017 when Shandong Province designated the relocation and resettlement of people living in the Yellow River's floodplain areas as a key task in its poverty alleviation campaign. In Heze, 28 village-based communities and 6 relocated communities were successively established, helping 146,000 residents from the riverbank areas realize their dream of "secure housing." Liuhe New Village, one of these communities, commenced the construction of its village foundation in November 2017, broke ground in August 2019, and saw its residents relocate and move in by September 2020. Today, the new village is fully equipped with infrastructure—including water supply, drainage systems, and both high-and low-voltage power networks—as well as comprehensive supporting facilities such as a primary school, kindergarten, supermarket, health clinic, cultural square, and entrepreneurship workshop.

After securing stable housing, how can residents find fulfilling employment? The Old Town has established the "Yellow River Affection" Party-building Demonstration Zone through a strategy of "inter-village collaboration, integrated planning, and demonstration-driven development," thereby implementing a "1+2+10+N" development model. More than 5,000 mu of land have been transferred for the cultivation of yellow peaches and traditional Chinese medicinal herbs; within the local entrepreneurship workshops, five labor-intensive industries—such as carpet weaving and home textile processing—have provided employment for over 300 residents in their communities.

Zhou Qiuxia, 44 years old, had worked in Jiangsu Province for many years before deciding to return to her hometown to start a business after the construction of Liuhe New Village; she established a pillow core home textile workshop there. She said, "Previously, our factory was located in the town, where it was difficult to recruit workers. Now that six villages have been merged, the labor force is concentrated, and our production capacity has increased several-fold." In the workshop, 39-year-old Zhang Haimei is diligently operating a sewing machine with swift movements. With a smile, she remarked, "Working right here at home is much better than seeking employment elsewhere—it allows me to take care of my family while earning over 3,000 yuan per month; such a life was something I never dared to imagine before." On the second floor of the Liuhe New Village Party-Mass Service Center stands the Juancheng Yellow River Floodplain Relocation Exhibition Hall, which represents a total investment of 8.8 million yuan. The exhibition hall, themed around the "Chinese Dream," features four sections— "Chasing the Dream in the Yellow River Management Zone," "Uniting to Pursue the Dream," "Drawing the Blueprint for the Dream," and "Moving In and Realizing the Dream" —and uses more than 200 photographs, videos, sculptures, and artifacts to document the arduous journey of the floodplain relocation project. The venue has been recognized as a Provincial Patriotic Education Base and a Provincial Party Member On-site Education Base.

Yang Xunzheng, a young man born in the 1980s, runs an aluminum art and cultural products workshop right in Xin Village. After spending many years working in Qingdao, he learned in 2019 about the news of his hometown's overall relocation and decisively returned home to start his own business. Today, he leads the villagers in combining traditional aluminum weaving techniques with modern aesthetics to create dozens of cultural and creative products, which are sold both domestically and internationally. "When I was a child, I desperately wanted to leave this place, thinking there was no future in the coastal area. Now that I've returned, I want everyone to see that this land can also generate real wealth," he says. He also regularly offers free training sessions, enabling left-behind women and elderly residents to take on orders and earn income right from the comfort of their own homes.

In 1946, the Hebei–Shandong–Henan Yellow River Water Resources Commission was established here. Eighty years have passed, yet the original commitment to managing the Yellow River remains unchanged. Today, Liuhe New Village is nestled against the Yellow River embankment; beneath the village platform, the Yellow River still flows swiftly, but it is no longer the source of the once-threatening flood hazards. Standing at the entrance to his own courtyard, Guo Zhirong gazed at the wide village road and the neatly arranged houses in the distance, filled with deep emotion: "I've lived all my life in the floodplain—never dreamed I would one day lead such a life." The mighty river surges on, and the area has transformed from its former state into a "Happy Floodplain" —one characterized by ecological beauty, thriving industries, and prosperous residents. This magnificent scene, unfolding gradually, bears witness to the remarkable story written by the Party and the people in this new era.