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Once-poor hamlet becomes ‘green’ model
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Pailou Village now runs on ecologically sound energy and has become a farming tourism site. Wing Tan inspects all the progress.
Hidden in the most northwestern tip of the Pudong New Area, Pailou Village was once an impoverished part of Hangtou Town. Today, however, the “forgotten” village has been turned into an ecologically green model and a farming tourism destination for urban day-trippers.
A meandering river, flanked by willow trees, traverses the village from east to west. Rows of traditional farmers’ houses with whitewashed walls and gray roof tiles interrupt the green farmland. Though they look ancient, the houses all use geothermal energy and wind power.
“It now has become kind of a star village in the city’s suburbs,” the village’s director, Xu Baoqing, says proudly. “The farmers are happy.”
In 2002, due to Shanghai’s administration readjustments, Hangtou Town’s Tannong Village and old Pailou Village were merged into new Pailou Village. Bordering Pujiang Town of Minhang District in the west, the new village was remote and backward.
“There was only one concrete road at the time and the rest were all muddy roads,” Xu recalls. “Though it became bigger, it was still poor.”
The change took place in 2008 when the city’s urban planning project, “New Village Construction,” was launched in the countryside. Ecologically green and low carbon became the watchwords for Pailou Village.
New asphalt roads were constructed to facilitate transport for villagers while more than 300 solar street lamps were installed. Nine polluted canals were dredged and the riverbanks were planted with grass. Lush trees, waterfront platforms and kiosks helped embellish the whole landscape.
Bus No. 183 was extended from the town’s biggest supermarket to Metro Line 8, linked with the downtown People’s Square.
In addition, a free gym, reading rooms and teahouses offered villagers places to bond during the slack season, when farm work isn’t heavy.
In 2009, the village joined with Shanghai Jiao Tong University to establish a domestic sewage water treatment plant with an investment of about 1.8 million yuan (US$295,200).
As one of the city’s three best village sewage treatment systems, the plant has a pipeline of almost 2,100 meters and is able to process 80 square meters of sewage every day. The water can be treated by the system to be drinkable.
Now the village’s 123 families’ wastewater is collected efficiently, treated and discharged safely to nearby rivers and canals.
Pailou Village is also the first in the suburbs to adopt a geothermal energy system made up of 3,100 pipes (each 80 meters long). The heat converter cost 3.5 million yuan.
The Shen Hu Ecological Farm, which uses the system, keeps each of its rooms at 25 degrees Celsius.
In addition, the village is powered by 200-kilovolt wind turbines and solar heaters. “The most important thing, I think, is to improve farmers’ lives and increase their income,” Xu says.
Pailou Village in recent years has emerged into one of the biggest kiwi fruit-growing areas in Shanghai, covering a total area of about 66,667 square meters. “November is the best time to pick the sweet, juicy fruit,” Xu says.
The village has more than 200 hectares of farmland, which is planted with rice, wheat and various vegetables. It also has a pig farm with more than 10,000 pigs.
About 8.3 hectares of the village’s water area is home for fish, shrimp and crabs, while 23 hectares are used to plant lotus roots and 17 hectares for water celery.
The village also has 6 hectares for raising flowers. This year, the village is gradually decreasing its vegetable planting area to grow more high-quality rice.
“We’re also attracting investors to develop farming tourism,” Xu says. So far Hefeng Farm and Shen Hu Ecological Farm are open, and they often are crowded with diners and visitors on weekends and during holidays.
Tourists can roll up their sleeves to be a one-day farmer in the orchard or have a water tour in the village’s crisscrossing rivers. In the summer, when the lotuses are blossoming, it will be quite a pleasant water exploration among the flowers and leaves.
The village hopes to work together with the Rose Garden just across the river in the Minhang District.
“We are negotiating with Minhang to build a bridge, linking the village with the garden, which is definitely a win-win,” Xu says.
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