By Liu Jinsong (刘金松)
Nation, page 14
Issue No. 570
May 21, 2012
Translated by Zhu Na
Original article: [Chinese]

When judging how good a town is, sometimes it's all in the name.

Xixinzhuang village (西辛庄村) in central China's Henan Province doesn't much care for its official "village" status. The per-capita annual income of its 720 villagers sits at around 26,000 yuan – far beyond the 6,977 yuan average for Chinese rural residents and even above the 21,810 yuan that the average urban dweller brings home every year.

The village boasts 20 of its own enterprises and most residents live in two-story villas with free water and cable TV.

Feeling that these achievements warranted more than a "village" label, Li Liancheng (李连成), the local party secretary, took the liberty of labeling Xixinzhuang China's first "village-level city."

"Our village-level city is a really big village and an innovative model for the new type of urbanization," Li said. "It's just to allow the villagers to live the same life as urban residents."

Li says that nothing will change in the government management structure of Xixinzhuang under the new label. It's simply meant to reflect an elevated status and help bring the respect the town deserves.

"When we posted recruitment ads, they referred to Xixinzhuang Village, and people didn't want to come," Li said. "You don't know how hard it is for us to recruit people with a master's degree to come to our village."

Although Xixinzhuang has a 90 million yuan hospital, the stigma of being a village often scares off qualified young doctors and nurses.

"Once you mention that you work in a village, nobody wants to date you," Li said.

His idea to create a new "village-level city" title received words of encouragement from the province's Party Secretary Lu Zhangong (卢展工) when he visited in January.

Later, on the sidelines of the National People's Congress in March, he even got a nod of support from Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who said the idea was an innovative starting point.

Emboldened by these high level endorsements, Party Secretary Li planned a ceremony on May 8 to officially unveil a sign in front of Xixinzhuang with the new label.

However, one day prior, he received a notice from his superiors at the Civil Affairs Department to cancel the ceremony since the new title hadn't been officially sanctioned.

But, to everyone's surprise, Li went ahead with the ceremony as planned, simply adding the word "preparing" in brackets before the "village-level city" title.

"When I unveiled the sign, they were all dumbfounded," Li boasted.

"I only mean that I'm going to establish a city, but it hasn't been completed yet. The civil affairs bureau can't stop me from doing that that."

According to Li, 15 surrounding villages have since asked to join the "Xixinzhuang village-level city."

Officials from Qingzui Town and Puyang County, which oversee Xixinzhuang, have denied any involvement in the "village-level city" planning.

One official from the Puyang County Organization Department said that the status change was a non-official act and that the government didn't give support. But since it was a spontaneous act by villagers, the government didn't oppose it.

This article was edited by Eric Fish