Arriving late at Yan'an, Shaanxi, I requested to visit a farmer's family immediately. I was first taken to the top of the hill to look down on the newly-developed terrace plots and planted trees, the pride of the local cadres. It was in the Zaohua watershed with 30 villages. Coming down the hill and driving for 11 km we reached the Luoyan village, and stopped for an interview.
Zhang, Dian-liang, age 36, lives with his wife and 2 children, age 14 and 10, by the Yan River and along the main thoroughfare of the village. Zhang is also the village head.
Zhang has 8 mu of farmland, of which 2 mu are allocated for corn, 3 mu for wheat, 2 mu for potato and 1 mu for bean. Zhang acquired the land quite a while ago, during the last land reform in 1981 under the policy of "responsibility to the household," for which he still pays an agricultural tax of 144Y to the government and a produce tax of 400Y to the local treasury.
In 1992 he acquired 3 mu of land with 50-year user rights for a total cost of 500Y, on which pear trees have been planted with an expected yield of 1500 kg this year. Another 3 mu of less favorable land are contracted at an annual rent of 50Y for planting mountain peach and mountain apricot (hardy types with smaller fruits).
In 1994, Zhang acquired 3.2 mu of land through auction for planting fruit trees, with 30-year user rights, at a cost of 300Y. Apple trees were planted, but it will be Year 2000 before apples can be marketed.
It seems Zhang's family is doing quite well judging from the many pieces of farm equipment they possess, notably a 4-wheel tractor (12 to 25 hp) with pumping attachment for irrigation, and a cab for doing transport.
Of significant interest is that Zhang together with 18 households invested collectively in several large greenhouses for cultivating vegetables, including cucumbers and eggplants. The greenhouses are located not far from Zhang's home, about 200 m away, along the main street through the village. They took out 60,000Y of loan from the Agricultural Trust for building the greenhouses. The loan has a monthly interest of 0.6%, which is to be paid back in two years.
The fact that the villagers enter boldly into such capital ventures means they have sufficient confidence in the market, and knowledgeable enough to take out large loans. It does seem that Yan'an city is booming with rapid increase in purchasing power, so that demand for vegetable is on the rise. The village is only 8 km from Yan'an.
Zhang doesn't look like a very enterprising person, smiling all the time and not good with numbers, but I suspect that he is benefited by his brother's guidance, who was the former village head.
The household spends about 3500Y on food, and markets 10,000Y of produce annually. Their net annual income is 4400Y. The fruit plots Zhang acquired through auction is quite far up the hill, like 10 km or so, which I deduced by checking our car's odometer between the last stop to view the fruit trees and his home. With such a difficult climb it is not likely that Zhang can devote much time caring for the apple trees.
Zhang was elected village head in April 1996 by 176 voters for a 3-year term. He is compensated 400Y of operation fees; on the other hand he provides 1/4 of his family's living space for village business. The Party office uses the same space. Since Zhang's brother served as village head from 1989-1996, all the facilities have been set up, and it was natural for Zhang to continue with the service. Being a village head is not a rewarding post, whose main function is to communicate directives from above to the villagers.
