Xiaqi: Water To Land Village

A broken boat with a broken net. Family members living there clad in shabby clothes and others with barely a thing to their name. The rains and storms, just like the sun hit them in the boats that were their homes. The boats were eve­ rything they had and fishing was the only profession. This is the story of three generations in a Chinese fishing village called Xiaqi, located on the banks of the Baima River in the Fujian Province. Today, the story is however different with so much to be inspired about their settlement journey from the waters to the land. Indeed, Xiaqi is known as the “first village in China where families who used to live on boats were relocated to land.” Before 1997, 95 per cent of the population were illiterates and there was neither a university student nor a graduate, but as at 2025, there are over 360 persons in institutions of higher learning in a locality that counts 782 house­ holds, and 3,571 residents. The inspiring transformation stems from the directives of Xi Jinping, who at the time was Secretary-Ge­ neral of the party at the level of the province. The objective was simple; move onto land, settle there, and achieve prosperity. As a result, they set up the Xiaqi Household Aquaculture Professional Cooperative, creating a new deve­ lopment model combining several factors of community growth. Giving that the locality comprises about 10 village groups, a concept of a big village supporting a small village was initiated to help those with relatively weak industrial bases to build a seafood street together. This initiative helped increase the collective income of ten villages by about 500,000 yuan, contributing to shared prosperity, the growth of the village collective economy, and higher incomes for residents. Land was also secured for relocation and buildings were constructed summing over 300 structures in present day. The movement was progr...