Editor's note: China Daily is presenting the series Visionary Pathway to tell the stories of practices and key initiatives promoted by President Xi Jinping during his tenure in various local regions, exploring their transformative impacts and interpreting the consistent values, thoughts and philosophies upheld by the president.
Aojiao, a village at the southeastern tip of Dongshan county, Fujian province, faces the sea on three sides. It is renowned for its 500-year history of maritime culture and beautiful natural scenery, and has become a modern fishing village known for its economic prosperity and ecological preservation. LI JUNTAN/FOR CHINA DAILY
A brisk dawn wind carried a salty tang across Aojiao village as fishing boats glided in with the tide, their cabins loaded with crab, squid tubes and the occasional grouper.
Along the shoreline, 59-year-old fisherman Shen Zhiqun was busy unloading fresh catches with his son, after nights spent navigating the shimmering expanse of the sea.
Shen's fishing vessel is outfitted with state-of-the-art fishing technologies, and the development of cold chain systems has allowed his catches to reach markets far beyond the coastal village — thanks in part to e-commerce platforms.
However, he said that his 40 years of experience in fishing remained the key to guaranteeing a bumper harvest from each of his fishing trips.
"To me, fishing in the ocean is like going through college. It requires experience, learning from the older generation and taking lessons from the sea," he said.
Nestled at the southeastern tip of Dongshan county, Aojiao has undergone a dramatic transformation, from a small village to a vibrant fishing community, over the past two decades — a change that captured national attention when President Xi Jinping visited in October last year.
It was Xi's second trip to the coastal hamlet, and came 23 years after his first visit in 2001, when he served as the province's governor.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, praised the village's evolution over the past 23 years and conveyed an optimistic tone about an even brighter future for rural areas and a more vibrant life for farmers.
The village's transformation has been widely seen as a validation of Xi's vision for diversifying the nation's food supply and broadening the channels of income for rural residents.
Aojiao, dubbed the nation's most beautiful fishing village, now boasts 88 registered steel-hulled fishing boats and a total of 603 smaller fishing vessels, pushing its annual marine output value past 330 million yuan ($45.3 million) in 2023. Furthermore, the development of aquaculture, e-commerce and rural tourism has broadened the channels of income for village residents, whose average annual disposable income has reached 58,000 yuan.
During his visit last year, Xi fondly recalled that during his first trip to Aojiao in 2001, he already foresaw the village's enormous potential.
"When I was working in Fujian, I noticed that our island communities held tremendous promise. That's when I proposed leveraging both the mountains and the sea — using mountain resources if you live by the mountains, and using the sea if you live by the sea," he said.
Liang Caiyi, an analyst with the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Aojiao's success story has proved correct the long-standing emphasis from Xi that rural areas should tailor their development strategies to local resources.
"A consistent governance philosophy underlies both the president's vision of leveraging the mountains and the sea and the all-encompassing approach to food," she said.
Meanwhile, the village's proper protection of its ocean ecology and environment, and the thriving of rural tourism today, also exemplify the idea that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, she added.
Fishermen catch fish at sea in Aojiao village, Dongshan county, Zhangzhou city, East China's Fujian province, Jan 7, 2025. Xu Wei/China Daily
Growth drivers
During his tenure in Fujian, Xi championed an all-encompassing approach to food, underscoring the development of under-forest economies — ecologically sustainable activity that relies on forests and woodlands — and marine aquaculture. The approach sought to adapt development strategies to local conditions and fully transform Fujian's mountains and maritime assets into real drivers of growth.
Shen Ruidong, deputy Party secretary of Aojiao village, said the community has acted on this vision over the past two decades and striven to harness the ocean's abundance to boost public well-being.
A pivotal moment in the village's transformation came with the modernization of its fishing fleet, Shen said.
In the early 2000s, fishermen navigated rough waters in small wooden trawlers, and the prospects of deep-sea fishing or aquaculture seemed distant.
Confronted with challenges such as dwindling fish stocks, village officials worked tirelessly to secure bank loans that enabled local fishermen to purchase larger, steel-hulled vessels to replace the wooden trawlers.
These modern vessels — equipped with GPS navigation, hydraulic winches and refrigeration facilities — allow crews to stay at sea for 10 to 15 days at a stretch, venturing farther offshore and significantly cutting costs while boosting profits.
"The refrigeration equipment also allows us to keep the catches fresh and sell at better prices," he said.
Another key factor that underpinned the village's prosperity was the gradual pivot to the construction of modern sea farms to bolster the aquacultural sector.
Guo Handong, 57, had to switch from the building of wooden boats to the farming of abalone with the upgrading of the village's fishing vessels in 2010.
However, a powerful typhoon disrupted his operations years later by causing a power failure, rupturing pipes and causing oxygen levels in the water tanks to plummet — resulting in the loss of nearly half of his stock.
With help from authorities and aquaculture experts, Guo was able to rebuild his farm and deploy modern technology to monitor water quality, manage disease outbreaks, and better protect equipment from severe weather conditions.
Today, Guo's farm, one of 128 of its kind in Aojiao, boasts 122 tanks — nearly twice its previous capacity — and operates on an internet-of-things system that allows him to regulate oxygen levels with a tap on his phone, producing thousands of abalones each year with a smaller team.
The pivoting from wild catch to aquaculture in Aojiao epitomized the nation's broader shift in the fishing sector. Nationwide, 82 percent of China's aquatic products were produced through aquaculture in 2024, with the nation's aquacultural sector now accounting for nearly 60 percent of global aquaculture output.
Green drive
Environmental restoration has also been central to the village's renewal, as enhanced measures to treat waste and sewage from aquaculture operations, households and fishing vessels bolstered the local ecology.
Aojiao was once confronted with growing pollution from the quick development of coastal aquaculture, as some farmers erected makeshift structures along the shore, with trash and wastewater discharged directly into the sea, said Shen Ruidong, the village official.
The coastal waters were once teeming with kelp and abalone farms, but foam buoys floated on the surface, and bits of polystyrene littered the beach. During high tide, marine debris would even wash up to residents' doorsteps.
To tackle these issues, local authorities launched a baywide ecological cleanup, creating no-aquaculture as well as permitted zones, and guiding farmers to designated areas.
They also encouraged upgrading from wooden rafts and foam buoys to eco-friendly plastic net pens and floats, improving the marine environment and restoring orderly offshore operations.
The gradual improvement in ecology and environment has paved the way for the development of rural tourism, allowing Lin Hubin, a military veteran, to set up a homestay while selling seafood on a livestreaming platform.
Lin said the homestay was flooded with bookings during summer and holiday periods, as tourists arrived to experience the seaside lifestyle and fishing practices.
Meanwhile, the improvement in water quality has also significantly improved the quality of produce from aquaculture farms, which pump water from deep in the sea to raise the produce, farmers said.
Cai Yanzhong, head of the bureau of agriculture and rural affairs in Dongshan county, said the trajectory of Aojiao's development holds key lessons for the rural vitalization of broader regions.
"By leveraging its unique geographical assets and cultivating distinctive local industries, Aojiao has built a diverse economic foundation that includes marine capture and aquaculture, advanced seafood processing, e-commerce and rural tourism," he said.
"This shows that successful rural vitalization hinges on industry-focused strategies that adapt to local conditions, tap into inherent advantages and develop signature enterprises."
The village is not without challenges. The dwindling of fish stocks offshore is expected to continue troubling the fishermen, and the aging of the village workforce, with an increasing number of young people migrating to urban areas, is posing obstacles to long-term development, officials said.
Even so, Shen Zhiqun, the fisherman, said he expects that the sea will continue to provide for the village's future generations.
"Everything we have comes from the sea," he said. "And as long as we treat it with care and respect, it will continue to give back."
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