Fujian villages bear witness to changes

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From sea to shore

For Jiang Chengcai's Xiaqi village in Fu'an city, the struggle was not against floods or remote mountains, but the sea itself.

Born into a family of the Tanka people, or boat dwellers, Jiang spent the first three decades of his life offshore. Seven family members shared a cramped wooden boat, constantly exposed to storms and uncertainty.

"Sometimes we barely had enough food to get by," he said. "My mother once tied the four of us siblings together during a typhoon, saying we would live together or die together."

From 1997 to 1999, relocation efforts promoted by Xi, then deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the CPC, brought Jiang and more than 500 other boat-dwelling households ashore.

Jiang, who was 32 at the time and a father of three, had to start from scratch on land.

In November 2000, Xi visited Jiang's home during a trip to Xiaqi village to learn about the situation of local households after their relocation.

"Not long after we moved into our new home on land, Xi came to visit us," Jiang said.

At Jiang's home, Xi asked about the family's size, their work and income, and how well they were adapting to life on land.

"I told him that 'life is good and comfortable now'," Jiang recalled.

"Now that you have come ashore, you must work hard and make something of yourself," Xi told him.

Jiang did exactly that.

Together with 16 villagers, he contracted more than 5 hectares of clam ponds, later expanding into aquaculture and construction. Over time, he built a stable livelihood and helped create jobs for others.

Sitting in the bright living room of his more than 100-square-meter apartment, Jiang recalled how he once stood at the bow of a boat, looking at the electric lights on land.

"What kind of light did we have on the boat? Kerosene lamps," he said. "When the wind blew across the sea, the flame would flicker and go out. Everything would sink into darkness."

Today, Jiang has passed his business to his son. His days are now spent with his grandchildren — a life he once could not imagine while drifting at sea.

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