An aerial view of Yucun Village, Anji County of Huzhou, East China's Jiangsu Porvince Photo: Wu Menglu

Nestled in the hilly terrain of Anji County, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, Yucun Village is deemed a symbol of ecological transformation and beautification in China. Surrounded by lush bamboo forests and a winding stream, Yucun lies in a region known for the scenic beauty and rich bio-diversity. 

However, about three decades ago, this peaceful village bore a very different identity.

Back in the 1990s, Yucun was the wealthiest village in Anji—not by cultivating nature, but by exploiting it. Mountain blasting, quarrying, and cement production dominated the local economy then. The toll on local environment was devastating, and the negative impact on health is even greater, with some villagers developing severe ailments after years of inhaling dust particles.

In 2003, Zhejiang Province launched the "Thousand Villages Demonstration and Ten-Thousand Villages Renovation" project to promote rural ecological restoration. Although Anji formally adopted an environmental conservation strategy in 2021, Yucun had already made a pivotal choice -- to shut down its mines and cement plants in pursuit of green development.

But the shift toward sustainability came at a steep price. In 2004, just one year after closing local polluting industries, Yucun's collective income plummeted from 3 million yuan （$417,952）to merely 200,000 yuan. The village faced an uncertain future then. 

In 2005, a turning point arrived. During an inspection tour to Yucun on August 15, 2005, Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, for the first time put forward the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," which is the pillar of President Xi's thought on ecological civilization, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Two decades later, Yucun has taken on a face-lift. Its permanent population of around 1,080 now enjoys annual income of 74,000 yuan on average, far exceeding the rural average of the province. 

Ecological exemplification

To commemorate the magic transformation, a stone monument inscribed with the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" stands at the heart of Yucun. It serves as both a physical landmark and a spiritual compass for the whole country.

The stone monument inscribed with the "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" stands at Yucun Village. Photo: Tao Mingyang/GT

Ge Yuande, who began working as Yucun's first-generation miner at age 17, has reinvented himself as a stone artist from his habit of collecting unusual stones from mines. Together with his son Ge Jun, he runs a homestay and an art classroom. In 2015, Ge Jun left his job in Hangzhou and returned home, inspired by the village's greatly improved environment and booming tourism. Today, Ge and his son host calligraphy and painting classes for tourists.

"My father always said, 'I used to sell stones that destroyed the environment. Now, I still sell stones — but they're artworks,'" Ge Jun told the Global Times. The father and son's story is emblematic of Yucun's transition from resource exploitation to developing ecological tourism.

Once known for its mines, Yucun is now a vibrant tourist village. Locals run homestays, host river-rafting excavations, and sell local crafts. The village has established Zhejiang's first rural youth entrepreneurship hub, "Qinglaiji," which offers policy support, co-working spaces, housing, dining, and public spaces like campgrounds and plazas, according to a report by China Green Times.

In just two years, Qinglaiji has attracted 29 enterprises—including listed public companies —from nearby cities like Hangzhou. More than 1,000 young people have settled there, and the combined revenue has exceeded 800 million yuan, the report noted.

Yucun is expanding cooperation with other places. The village now collaborates with 24 surrounding villages across Tianhuangping Town, Shangshu Town, and Shanchuan Town to form a 245-square-kilometer "Greater Yucun" community.

In 2016, Yucun was designated a national AAA tourist attraction. That year, tourist visits surpassed 300,000, and both village income and per capita earnings surged. That year, collective income topped 3.8 million yuan, and villagers' average annual income rose to 35,895 yuan—up from just 8,732 yuan in 2005.

Greener power grid

Beyond tourism, Yucun has been committed to pursuing the green development mission. With infrastructure support from the State Grid Huzhou Power Supply Company, it has become China's first "zero-carbon village," where 429 households are powered by green electricity through local power grid transmissions. The custom-built energy control system has reduced local carbon emissions by more than 35,700 tons, according to State Grid Anji Company.

Anji, where Yucun is located, is a mountainous county lacking natural energy resources such as coal, gas, and oil. Yet it has become a model for renewable energy use. During China's 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), Anji added 173 megawatts of solar capacity, with a growth rate of 35.3 percent, official data showed.

The 110kV "zero-carbon" Chengbei Substation in Anji County, Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province Photo: Wu Menglu

Anji is also the world's largest chair-manufacturing base—one out of every three office chairs in the world has been made here. In 2024, the chair industry's revenue reached 33.14 billion yuan, accounting for 28.1 percent of the county's total industrial output. 

To reduce carbon emissions, engineers from the State Grid Huzhou Power Supply Company helped upgrade 133 injection molding machines, cutting their energy cost by 10.5 percent per unit and saving over 320,000 kilowatt-hours annually, according to a report by the local newspaper Huzhou Daily. 

Data from the State Grid Huzhou Power Supply Company shows that, currently green renewable energy accounts for over 30 percent of Anji's total energy consumption and 85 percent of its energy growth. Locally consumed renewable electricity makes up a remarkable 40.8 percent of total energy consumption.

Through Anji, one sees the broader energy transformation sweeping Zhejiang. Despite its economic strength, Zhejiang has minimal natural energy resources. This summer, its power demand may peak at 133 million kilowatts—posing major supply challenges for the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co.

Under these circumstances, Zhejiang leads the nation in distributed solar power, which makes up 83 percent of its installed photovoltaic capacity. By June 2024, the province's total installed power capacity topped 170 million kilowatts, with renewable green energy overtaking coal for the first time. Solar power has become Zhejiang's top energy source, according to data from State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co. 

To stabilize green energy production, the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co has implemented accurate forecasting, energy storage, and integrated power-load-storage systems. As a result, the province achieved a power supply reliability rate of 99.9888% in 2024—the highest among all provincial grids. The goal for 2025 is even more ambitious: 99.9932%, with average household outage time significantly reduced to just 36 minutes.

The green energy service center of Anji Photo: Wu Menglu

Thanks to increasingly reliable power supply provided by State Grid local branches, the level of rural electrification in Zhejiang Province rivals that of medium-sized cities in China. 

While the villages may still retain their decades-old appearances, such as whitewashed walls and black-tiled roofs, the sky is now a purer shade of blue. At village entrances, new energy charging stations have been installed, and cafés have begun to open, showcasing China's green power revolution, driven by the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co.