Abstract: Based on the reality of Daotong Village in Lianyuan City, Hunan Province, Sany Group and the Sany Foundation, under the theme of “scientific philanthropy”employ comprehensive intervention methods to promote community development and revitalization. They respond to the urgent development needs of Daotong Village in areas such as industrial cultivation, healthcare and elderly care, and community organization. Through deep, practical engagement and a companion-style approach in rural community work, they guide villagers to directly participate in it, offering a new model for exploring rural vitalization.
Challenge
In response to China’s rural vitalization strategy and the pursuit of sustainable development and shared prosperity, SANY Group, together with the SANY Foundation, launched a flagship project in Daotong Village, Lianyuan City, Hunan Province, as a pilot. Although Daotong enjoys a relatively sound economic base, it faces multiple difficulties: a weak collective economy, ineffective public affairs governance with low community consensus, severe aging, scarce public health and elderly care services, inadequate public facilities, and an environment in urgent need of improvement. How to advance rural vitalization scientifically and effectively — respecting local realities, avoiding crude one-size-fits-all approaches, and achieving coordinated economic, social, and environmental development — demanded deep reflection and systematic design.
Solution
Guided by the principle of scientific philanthropy, the SANY Foundation began in 2019 by convening external experts for multi-pronged research — symposia, site visits, literature reviews, and policy consultations — to conduct a thorough diagnostic of Daotong, producing a feasibility plan and launching projects across multiple domains.
Ecological agriculture: To address the lack of cash-crop technology, backward breeding practices, severe agricultural pollution, and talent shortages, the Foundation partnered with the village committee to establish an eco-agricultural demonstration base. The 100-mu (6.7-hectare) modern demonstration farm integrates crop cultivation and livestock raising, showcasing melon and fruit crop protection technologies, water-fertilizer integration, selenium-enriched crops, physical pest control, zero-discharge livestock systems, and drone-based crop protection, with expert teams guiding a reduce labor, reduce costs, reduce pollution production model that cuts overall costs by over 30% compared with conventional farming. The base demonstrates high-value crop cultivation and efficient, eco-friendly livestock techniques to villagers while providing technical training, a peer exchange platform, and supporting operational protocols and equipment, cultivating local champions for rooted industrial development.
Community engagement: To address governance gaps and poor environmental hygiene, a ten-person resident team was stationed in the village long-term, working alongside villagers to establish a time-bank for public service, run waste management awareness campaigns, train elderly care and environmental volunteers, revive cultural groups, and create shared public spaces.
Smart health and elderly care: To tackle severe aging and scarce public services, a medical-care service center, social-work team, and smart elderly care system were established, gradually forming a multi-service prototype spanning medical treatment, nursing, rehabilitation, and wellness care that now radiates to neighboring villages.
Rural education: Tinkering education was introduced at the SANY School — a first for rural Chinese schools — bringing creative, open-ended innovative education as a supplement to local children’s schooling.
Impact & Value
Economic: The 100-mu demonstration base’s reduce labor, reduce costs, reduce pollution model has cut overall costs by over 30%, providing villagers with systematic cultivation and breeding solutions, a technical training platform, and a pipeline of locally rooted agricultural talent to fuel industrial vitalization.
Social governance: The ten-person resident team has bridged the gap between professional staff and villagers, cultivating active community members as local leaders; waste management, caregiver training, and environmental volunteering have visibly improved the village landscape; revitalized community activity rooms have enriched cultural life.
Elderly care innovation: The medical-elderly care integration model is pioneering diversified rural smart elderly services; social workers run wellness activities, medical visits, rehabilitation guidance, and home care that enhance seniors’ well-being and sense of belonging; repurposed public facilities now serve as medical centers, with the multi-service prototype expanding to reach more elderly residents.
Education equity: Tinkering education — a first for Chinese rural schools — demonstrates urban-rural equity across quality educational resources, compulsory education access, and education digitization.
Recognition: Lianyuan’s Vice Mayor Yi Zhuan and Loudi’s Party Secretary Liu Fei visited and gave strong endorsements; local government, villagers, and partner NGOs have all praised the project; the Vice Mayor and Maotang Township Government see it as responding to urgent development needs and establishing a new model that embodies corporate responsibility and contemporary commitment; peer NGOs find the deeply rooted, accompaniment-style rural work richly instructive. The scientific philanthropy philosophy and holistic intervention approach offer a differentiated, replicable practice sample for rural vitalization efforts nationwide.