Murals Lift Spirits, But Villagers Must Be More Involved in Vitalization

College students paint a mural on a wall in a village in Shangqiu, Henan province, before the Spring Festival holiday. China Daily

Murals of astronauts and cuddly tigers in a village in Henan province attracted much public attention on social media before the Spring Festival holiday.

They were the work of 20 college students who had returned to their hometown in Shangqiu during the winter vacation to give it a fresh look and help improve the surroundings.

Spread over 2,000 square meters, the murals depict a range of vivid scenes including the fight against COVID-19, the traditional lion dance, celebrations of the Year of the Tiger, and familiar images from childhood comics.

Gao Song, one of the volunteer painters, said that half of the group were students majoring in art and the others had skills in painting.

"We volunteered as part of a practice activity organized by the local communist youth league," Gao told Dahe Daily, a news portal based in Zhengzhou, Henan. "As college students, we were willing to work to contribute something to our hometown."

Another volunteer, Liu Yuanyuan, said the murals were the students' way of contributing to rural vitalization. "We hope the paintings will improve the environment in our hometown," she said.

Although the work was finished in a few days, working outdoors in the freezing cold was a challenge.

"Elders in the village helped us hold the scaffolding and gave us hot water," Gao said, adding that many villagers were involved in the project.

"Painting materials, like the pigments, color palettes and brushes, were all provided by the village, and local businesses gave us free instant noodles, bottles of water and gloves," he said.

Liu Hongzhen, who lives in the village, said the area now looks clean and bright, thanks to the beautiful wall paintings.

The volunteers plan to paint walls in every neighborhood during the vacation and later will expand to other villages to help improve the environment and living conditions for residents there.

Improving living conditions plays an important role in rural vitalization and in promoting agricultural modernization, and college students returning to their hometowns are active players in the process.

While China took great steps forward with its three-year action plan on improving rural living conditions and launched an additional five-year action plan in December, Yu Fawen, a researcher at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that a shortcoming of the rural vitalization drive remains the relatively poor living conditions.

Although sanitary toilet facilities are now available in around 70 percent of rural areas, Yu said that without knowing the usage rate of these toilets, it's difficult to know if they are effective in meeting villagers' needs.

He added that the new action plan should invest more funding and personnel in managing rural infrastructure, and lead to regulations that really benefit the rural population, as villagers are the focus of the drive.

"The projects involved in improving the rural environment, such as those related to the building of sanitary toilets and garbage disposal areas, should be pursued according to the different needs of each village," Yu said, adding that village regulations should help residents take part in such projects.

The greater involvement of villagers and raising their enthusiasm for such projects will be the next focus of the drive to improve rural living conditions, he added.