Couple builds new life in town famous for hard work and self-reliance

Zhang An's childhood memories all involve mountains.

His home, Nanniwan, is on the outskirts of Yan'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, where the air was clean and the mountains were everywhere, but rarely people visited due to its barren wasteland.

"No people meant no business and no opportunities for development, so I worked out of the town, living a life by transporting goods across the country," said the 37-year-old.

While driving in Yan'an, he met Su Meizi, who was then an employee of a hotel in the city. The pair fell in love and married in 2008. Soon, their son was born.

"I thought my husband would continue to move products across the nation, and I would continue to commute to work from Nanniwan to Yan'an day after day, but five years ago, all that changed," Su told China Daily as she provided visitors with electric truck services at the Nanniwan National Wetland Park on Thursday.

In 2019, during his spare time at work, Zhang, who possesses maintenance skills, was called back to Nanniwan by friends to help build and repair houses near a local memorial hall. "To my surprise, he didn't return to Yan'an, but was drawn by the rapid development of his hometown," Su said.

Also in that year, the couple had their second child. To take care of the baby girl, Su quit the hotel job and began spending more time in Nanniwan, witnessing the transformation of the small town located about 40 kilometers south of Yan'an.

In 1941, the Communist Party of China troops initiated a large-scale production campaign in Nanniwan to survive the aggressive encroachment of the Kuomintang forces. The movement created a land of abundance and realized self-sufficiency amid military and economic sieges by the KMT army. The achievement came through hard work and self-reliance.

"When I first came here, not long after I got married, it was mostly rice paddies and wasteland," Su recalled while pointing to the area she had just served for tourists. "From the time my husband came back to participate in the construction, however, this quickly became the Nanniwan Scenic Area."

"In the past, people just visited the memorial hall to learn about the revolutionary history in Nanniwan. Now, they can also experience local natural scenery, such as the wetland park, as well as beautiful villages and folk cultures, in the scenic area," the 36-year-old woman said.

Within five years, lots of homestays and commercial streets have started emerging, offering many job opportunities and attracting numerous visitors from home and abroad. Data released by the scenic area's management commission showed that the annual number of visitors to Nanniwan has exceeded 1 million.

Thanks to the fast development, both Zhang and Su have found desirable jobs in the science area. Zhang is responsible for repairing appliances, while Su is for the shuttle rental. "We work together and have much more time with the family," Su said. "Although the salary is a little bit lower than that of my previous job in the city, I feel it's worth it because I can be with my children as they grow up."

"As more and more tourists come to Nanniwan, my husband and I are planning to accumulate more experience in the scenic spot and prepare more funds, so as to open our own homestay next year," she added.

Nanniwan's rich historical heritages and rapid development have also attracted some outsiders to come and seek better employment opportunities. A 30-year-old woman who called herself Tian Tian from Pingdingshan, Henan province, is one of them.

When she was young, she always heard the spirit of "self-reliance and hard work" of Nanniwan from her parents, and she also read some books about how the Nanniwan people developed production campaigns in the old difficult days. "I was curious about what the township was like, but I wasn't able to visit it until May," she said.

Three months ago, she happened to see an advertisement for the Nanniwan scenic spot, and at that time, she had no stable job. She decided to give a try in the mountainous area, even if she had to travel more than 10 hours by train.

"I went to the memorial hall as most visitors did when I arrived in Nanniwan, as I wanted to see the history in the books," she said. "But soon, I became fond of the local environment and cool weather. The summer temperature is much lower than in my hometown, making me feel more comfortable."

Luckily, she was eventually hired by the scenic spot and became a ticket conductor in the wetland park.

"Compared with the introduction in the books, today's Nanniwan has changed a lot," she said. "But people's spirit of relying on themselves to live better lives has not changed, which also educated and influenced me."

Su agreed with Tian. Speaking of why she married Zhang, Su said: "He is reliable and always relies on his skills to make himself better and bring our family to a brighter future."

Standing opposite and hearing his wife talk about this, Zhang, who is 5'9" feet tall and has a tan, smiled shyly. "So much has changed over the years. But you see, these are still the mountains of my childhood," he added while pointing to the mountains in front of him. "Some remain unchanged."