Yang Kele, first secretary stationed in Sanhe village and sent by State Grid Songxian Power Supply Co in Henan province, rents an agricultural tool to a villager for free at the village Love Supermarket. [SHI YABO/For chinadaily.com.cn]
In the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in Central China's Henan province, Zhang Xingli — a senior citizen — is becoming well-known for serving as a sketch model for students coming to his picturesque Sanhe village in Huangzhuang town in Songxian county to draw sketches.
Dubbed an "Uncle Online Celebrity," Zhang is a favorite for the students due to his weather-beaten face engraved with traces left by years, and his gentle eyes always shining with kindness.
While the students draw sketches in the picturesque village, Zhang also offers them a resting place and free tea. When the sketches are done, the students express their gratitude and leave their names and contact information on Zhang's "Love Service Scores Card."
With the card, he can visit the village "Love Supermarket" set up by the local unit of the State Grid — the world's largest utility, which shoulders a dual task of safeguarding China's energy security as well as its economic lifeline — and exchange daily necessities there.
"I didn't expect that I would earn scores by serving a sketch model for kids and by doing some cleaning in my village, and that I can also exchange some rice, flour and peanut oil for free. It's such a pleasure!" Zhang said, beaming with delight.
Setting up a "Love Supermarket" is an innovative move taken by the State Grid to aid rural governance and help boost rural revitalization across China. Dubbed SGREP, it is also a public welfare brand and part of the State Grid Rural Empowerment Projects and Cultural Education Actions program.
The new look of Sanhe, a picturesque village located in Huangzhuang town in Songxian county, Henan province. [SHI YABO/For chinadaily.com.cn]
In the village Love Supermarket, there are a goods-display area, convenience service area and service management desks. The villagers earn scores by taking part in the sanitary management of courtyards in the village, acting as sketch models, acting bravely for a just cause or doing good deeds by caring for others.
After registering at the goods exchange registration desk, they can exchange the corresponding items with the scores they earn and don't need to pay anything, said Yang Kele, first secretary stationed in Sanhe village and sent by State Grid Songxian Power Supply Co.
He noted there are over 100 kinds of daily necessities — such as rice, flour and edible oil — in the village Love Supermarket, and these are provided by the State Grid's e-commerce platform "Huinongbang" in one stop.
"In order to make the Love Supermarket play its incentive role, we pay visits to the villager's homes, to get to know their demand and then prepare the goods according to their daily needs," he said, adding that the items even include some agricultural machinery and tools, which can be rented for free.
With its novel operation mode, the local State Grid "Love Supermarket" has quickly aroused the villagers' initiative to participate in public affairs, he said.
Yang added that since its trial operation, every household in the village has actively joined in the village governance and rural folk culture activities, assisting the village management team in its work, and actively developing modern agriculture and rural industries.
"It really helps in bolstering the local jobs and increasing the villagers' income, lifting the village's new look and its atmosphere of cultural-ethical progress," he said.
