Hong Kong – HKSAR Government’s Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments visit Zhejiang for practical experience of grassroots governance (with photos)

     ​The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, led Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments to visit Huzhou City and Jiaxing City of Zhejiang Province today (June 28) to obtain a deeper understanding of the practical experience of grassroots governance and common prosperity.
      
     In Anji County, they visited places including Yucun and Villa & Resort to learn more about rural transformation and success stories about improving rural environment and increasing rural income. They also talked to local residents and shop operators to learn more about their daily lives and business practices.
      
     More than a decade ago, Yucun closed the county’s largest mining area which caused serious pollution. Through improving the environment, the local government rediscovered the value of the village and put efforts on rural rebuilding and reconstruction of urban and rural areas. Following the concept of “clean waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver”, the local government established the first ecological county in the country and developed rural tourism economy. After years of continual and dedicated efforts, Anji County has accelerated green development and paved the way for the modernisation of grassroots governance, creating a path of transformation and upgrading for ecological economisation and economic ecologisation, which increased farmers’ income, narrowed income gap between urban and rural areas to achieve common prosperity.
      
     Similarly, after a careful conversion, Villa & Resort, a homestay cluster, has been transformed from a “hollow village” where most of the young people left the village for work in the city in the past, to an integrated community for leisure tourism, arts, culture and creativity which attracted a large number of young people to start their businesses and let tourists to stay and enjoy village life there.
      
     The delegation also visited the Hello Kitty Amusement Park in Hangzhou; the China Bamboo Expo Park, the first county-level base for giant pandas in the country; the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History; and the Song Ming Tea Expo Garden in Anji which is developed in the direction of agriculture, tourism and culture.
      
     Mrs Yeung said development needs to balance economic interests and the impact on the environment and lifestyle. In the course of development, there is a need to assist those who are less capable financially to find opportunities to improve their lives. The successful practical experience of common prosperity and Chinese-style modernisation in Zhejiang has enabled senior civil servants to gain a first-hand understanding of ways to resolve conflicts in the process of development. It is believed that upon their return to Hong Kong, the participants can, taking into account their own experience from this trip, formulate more people-oriented policies in their respective positions so as to boost momentum for development in community and improve people’s livelihood.
      
     She also said many of the places visited today have green, tourism and cultural elements, and are examples of successful transformation combined with advantages of natural valuable resources. She believed that they would be an inspiration to colleagues in different positions.
      
     The delegation will continue its visit in Zhejiang Province tomorrow (June 29).