On October 8, 2023, in Guangzhou, our reporter Guo Jun took a closer look at the impactful journey of the “Guangdong Light and Color Enterprise” initiative, which has been promoting common prosperity for more than 20 years.
In March of this year, the “Light and Color Caravan” consumer support initiative, organized by the Guangzhou Light and Color Promotion Association, featured an impressive showcase of over 100 diverse agricultural specialty products from rural areas in Guangzhou and 12 partner assistance regions. The event drew in a large crowd of consumers eager to purchase items like fresh corn from Qiqihar, duck-rice ivory rice from Qingyuan, lettuce from Lianzhou, Xinjiang pears, highland black fungus, and Guizhou rice noodles.
Since its inception in 2021, the “Light and Color Caravan” initiative has carried out extensive field research in partner assistance regions. This effort has helped local enterprises develop a comprehensive system covering product processing, packaging, transportation, and marketing. By tapping into Guangzhou’s consumer market, the program has identified nearly 2,000 high-quality agricultural products, effectively linking them to local farmers and driving income generation. As of March 2024, over 1.2 billion yuan has been invested in purchasing agricultural products from these supporting areas.
The “Light and Color Caravan” initiative exemplifies the flourishing of the Light and Color Enterprise in Guangdong province. Recognized as a pivotal player in the private economy, Guangdong was among the first regions to respond to the central government’s call to promote the Light and Color initiatives. Over the past two decades, these initiatives have substantially contributed to economic development, social harmony, and ethnic unity within the region.
In recent years, promoting sustainable support and empowering rural revitalization has been a central focus. Guangdong has actively pursued innovation in the Light and Color project, contributing to poverty alleviation, regional coordinated development, and participating in initiatives like the “Ten Thousand Enterprises Support Ten Thousand Villages” action and the execution of the “Hundred Thousand Million Project.”
In Zhuwu Village, located in the autonomous county of Ruyuan Yao, 11 mushroom greenhouses were entirely funded by Dongguan’s Manda Group. However, as the peak sales season for mushrooms approached, organizing sales proved challenging. In response, Manda Group quickly dispatched a live-streaming team to the village, setting up a streaming studio on-site. They showcased not only the Shitake mushrooms but also local specialties such as Luyuan mountain valley rice, egg noodles, and chili sauce, while villagers contributed fresh vegetables. Remarkably, all 1,000 pounds of freshly harvested mushrooms sold out within just three hours.
Manda Group has repeatedly mobilized social resources through collaborations with party branches, hosting “love and charity” live-streaming sessions in various locations, including Tongren in Guizhou and Nanfeng, Meizhou in Guangdong. They also focus on training e-commerce talent and encourage partner entities to directly support local products.
To date, more than 150 party branches from Manda Group and partner entities have been established. The secretary of Manda Group’s party branch noted that the charity live-streaming efforts aim to spread positive energy and inspire broader participation in the “Ten Thousand Enterprises Supporting Ten Thousand Villages” initiative, helping farmers achieve prosperity through hard work.
Private enterprises are playing an increasingly vital role in building the “High-Quality Development Project of the Hundred Counties, Thousand Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages.” The “Ten Thousand Enterprises Supporting Ten Thousand Villages” project has emerged as a key strategy to implement the “Hundred Thousand Million Project,” enabling collaboration between more and less developed areas through financial support, project development, and talent exchange, ultimately promoting shared growth.
According to the Guangdong Light and Color Promotion Association, as of July this year, Guangdong has mobilized 5,682 private enterprises to support 4,589 villages through 7,370 assistance projects, amounting to an investment of 12.7 billion yuan.
The Guangzhou Rural Revitalization Holdings Group, guided by the Zengcheng District government in Guangzhou, has united several quality listed companies and private enterprises to operate the province’s inaugural market-oriented rural revitalization industrial fund. They have pioneered an innovative model that combines “funds and parks” to bolster high-quality rural industrial development while rolling out the “Hundred Thousand Million Project.” Additionally, they have established the Guangzhou Rural Talent Academy, the city’s first specialized institution for cultivating rural talent, ensuring ongoing development and operational empowerment in villages.
For promoting ethnic unity, the Lianshan Primary School in Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, which spans approximately 51 acres and features state-of-the-art educational facilities, was fully funded with a generous donation of 160 million yuan from Xinghe Bay Group. Dubbed locally as “the most beautiful rural primary school,” it opened its doors in September 2022.
Xinghe Bay Group has long focused on supporting impoverished and ethnically diverse regions. Their projects address critical areas of rural revitalization, including environmental improvements, grassroots healthcare and education, and the stimulation of local industries, impacting areas across Guangdong and beyond, including Sichuan, Guizhou, Tibet, Yunnan, Gansu, and Xinjiang.
With a rich diversity of ethnic groups in Guangdong, many private entrepreneurs contribute to promoting ethnic progress by investing in infrastructure development and special industry projects in minority areas, driving economic development and cultural exchanges. For example, local entrepreneurs have developed tourist attractions in ethnic regions to boost tourism and directly enhance income.
As the Guangdong Light and Color initiative continues to expand, officials underscore its importance as a platform for private enterprises to give back to society and fulfill their social responsibilities. It plays a crucial role in exploring modernity within a Chinese context and fostering the healthy development of non-public economic sectors, actively advancing the cause of common prosperity.
Looking to the future, officials express their commitment to refining the top-level design to spur innovative growth in the Light and Color initiative. They aim to weave this development into broader unified work strategies, strengthening the role of private entrepreneurs and encouraging them to collectively promote the Light and Color spirit. By enhancing brand development and increasing public awareness of Light and Color projects, they hope to attract more private entrepreneurs to get involved, supporting systematic and standardized growth that serves as a practical reference for grassroots implementation.
