Villagers attend a shareholder meeting of the cooperatives in Chenjiapo Village of Yongshun County, central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 29, 2022 (Photo by Yu Guanglong/Xinhua)

In 2017, Chen Jian, a villager in Chenjiapo Village in central China's Hunan Province decided to return home and start a new business, having witnessed the scene of desolationin the village.

Chen called on villagers to clean up the place, dismantle the dilapidated pig and cattle pens and dirty and shabby latrines, build parking lots, a square, as well as some farmhouses.

With self-raised funds, Chen and his villagers built new amusement facilities, and established cooperatives for fruit and vegetable planting and a village tourism development company.

Nowadays, Chenjiapo Village is recognized as a five-star leisure agricultural manor by the agriculture and rural affairs department of Hunan Province.

In 2021, Chenjiapo Village saw more than 1.5 million yuan (about 214,921 U.S. dollars) of tourism income, and at the end of 2021, each of the 29 households received a dividend of 20,000 yuan.

This photo taken on Feb. 20, 2022 shows plum blossoms in Chenjiapo Village of Yongshun County, central China's Hunan Province. (Photo by Yu Guanglong/Xinhua)

Cartoonist Liu Ke works at an animation incubation base in Changxue Village of Longqiao Town, Haikou City, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 9, 2023.(Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

Liu Ke, author of the popular comics "crazy neighbours," and his wife Meng Qingnan are among the first batch of cartoonists who moved into Changxue Villagein south China's Hainan Province to live and work.

By actively promoting the development of animation industry, Changxue Village has attracted a number of animation enterprises and cartoonists to settle down.

The development of animation industry and the arrival of cartoonists have injected vitality to the old village and created new work opportunities for local villagers.

Cartoonist Liu Ke poses for a photo in front of his work with his wife Meng Qingnan at the exhibition hall of an animation incubation base in Changxue Village of Longqiao Town, Haikou City, south China's Hainan Province, Feb. 9, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)