Anshun City in Guizhou Province is a land rich in revolutionary heritage. In April 1935, the Central Red Army entered Anshun territory in two columns, left and right, spending six days and five nights and leaving footprints across more than 400 villages throughout the city. The spirit of the Long March now permeates the land of Puding County, becoming a spiritual driving force behind local rural revitalization and industrial upgrading.
In 2016, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (hereinafter referred to as "AVIC") began designated assistance to Puding County. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period alone, AVIC invested a cumulative total of 21.5 million yuan in assistance funds, implemented 14 projects, and attracted over 100 million yuan in investment. At the same time, AVIC built an integrated primary-secondary-tertiary industry demonstration park in Shuijing Village of Huachu Town, leveraging the "Blue Sky Shuijing Rural Lotus Festival" to create a four-season Puding cultural tourism project. It also helped the Maguan community collect and organize ancient opera scripts, build rehearsal halls, and re-establish opera troupes to inherit and promote intangible cultural heritage.
Li Zhe, who was selected by AVIC to serve as a temporary member of the Puding County Party Standing Committee and deputy county head, told reporters in an interview that in the 15th Five-Year Plan assistance blueprint, Puding County has established a "123" development approach featuring "one brand leading, two major industrial clusters, and three-dimensional coordination," organically linking industry, talent, culture, ecology, and organization. In practical implementation, the Longcai Shawan scenic area serves as the flagship, connecting Yelang Lake, the thousand-mu lotus pond in Shuijing, Maguan intangible cultural heritage, and Meichong ecological resources, exploring and promoting a "six-village coordinated" model.
"In promoting aviation industry connections, we leverage the group's resources to carry out low-altitude plant protection drone project applications, helping Puding County's aluminum enterprises fulfill orders for Guizhou Aviation Industry City and AVIC Fenglei aluminum components, further promoting their transition from civil aluminum to aviation aluminum. At the same time, we support the Maguan packaging box factory in expanding into non-aviation markets and actively connect with aviation supporting testing, low-altitude logistics, and other projects, promoting precise integration of airborne advantages with local needs in a two-way collaboration, achieving a '1+1>2' synergy effect," Li Zhe explained.
From "Hollow Village" to "Ten-Million Village"
Enjoying lotus flowers, listening to music, strolling through markets, riding mini trains, drinking coffee in rock caves, eating Chongqing hotpot, and participating in rural talent shows... On the evening of July 18, "A Decade of Aviation Sentiment, Fragrance of a Thousand Mu of Lotus" — the 10th Blue Sky Shuijing Rural Carnival (hereinafter referred to as the "Lotus Festival") officially opened. This is also the busiest time of the year in Shuijing Village.
Shuijing Village has held this grand event for 10 years. According to reports, this year's Lotus Festival, themed "A Decade of Aviation Sentiment, Fragrance of a Thousand Mu of Lotus," showcases Shuijing Village's transformation from a "hollow village" to a "ten-million village." Wang Guan, the first secretary dispatched by AVIC to Shuijing Village, told reporters that after AVIC began designated assistance to Shuijing Village in 2016, a thousand-mu lotus pond was built based on local natural resource advantages. Ten years later, a complete industrial chain has emerged in which lotus roots can be sold fresh, lotus root powder can be processed, lotus leaves can be made into tea, lotus seeds can be developed into food products, and lotus flowers can drive rural tourism.
Reporters learned that the "Blue Sky Shuijing Rural Lotus Festival" case was selected as an annual excellent brand case in the National Advertising Research Institute's "Brand Empowerment for High-Quality Rural Revitalization Development Research Report (2024)," and the case "Lotus Industry Integration Development Activates a Pool of Spring Water for Rural Revitalization" was shortlisted as a typical case of designated assistance work by central units selected by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
Li Zhe stated that in order to deeply explore "Shuijing experience," summarize the "Shuijing model," and promote "Shuijing practices," the AVIC Rural Revitalization Puding Working Group (hereinafter referred to as the "Puding Working Group") established a special task force to "make the Shuijing name known and polish the Shuijing brand." In July 2025, AVIC released the "Blue Sky Shuijing" rural revitalization assistance regional public welfare brand, helping assisted villages upgrade from agricultural products to commodities and from commodities to brands. At the same time, the Puding Working Group collaborated with AVIC Science and Technology Innovation and the Shenzhen Institute of Standards and Technology to jointly build the "Blue Sky Shuijing" agricultural product quality standard system, promoting agricultural products to leap from "selling local specialties" to "selling brands" and from "being able to sell" to "selling well."
"Relying on the 'Blue Sky Shuijing' regional public welfare brand, we will lead Puding County to achieve new breakthroughs in rural revitalization and industrial upgrading," Li Zhe further stated. He aims to promote the upgrade of "Blue Sky Shuijing" from a product identifier to a value system, with the goal of building Anshun City's first village-level company certified by "Zhenpin" by 2027.
"One Village One Policy, Six Villages Coordinated" Model
Walking into the laying hen farm in Meichong Village of Houchang Township, the chicken coop is clean and tidy, automated equipment operates in an orderly manner, and workers move among them collecting fresh eggs. Just over a year ago, due to equipment aging, funding shortages, and poor sales channels, this laying hen farm had once fallen into a production halt.
In May 2025, Zhang Zhongren became the first secretary dispatched by AVIC to Meichong Village, and how to revitalize the laying hen breeding industry became his primary task. "After discussing with village officials and residents, we spent 20 days investigating several large-scale farms in Anshun City and Guiyang City, and signed a purchase contract for 9,500 chicks. On July 12, 2025, our laying hen farm officially restarted," Zhang Zhongren recalled.
"Among the six assisted villages where AVIC has stationed personnel, Meichong Village is the most geographically remote and has the weakest infrastructure," Li Zhe said. The Puding Working Group built a complete laying hen industry chain in Meichong Village, developing subdivided segments such as cage-raised laying hens, deep processing of eggs, activated utilization of chicken manure, and brand sales, constructing a green industrial system of "breeding-processing-waste recycling." In 2025, the village collective company's sales exceeded 2 million yuan, with profits approaching 500,000 yuan.
Reporters learned that in order to bring "Shuijing experience" to more assisted villages, the Puding Working Group followed the "one village one policy, six villages coordinated" model and wrote a "15th Five-Year Plan Assistance Development Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") of over 13,000 words. The Plan shows that the southern demonstration zone, with Shuijing Village at its core, will enhance the overall influence and added value of the "Puding" regional public brand through developing deep processing of agricultural products, e-commerce logistics, and experiential agriculture. The eastern characteristic agricultural zone, represented by Meichong Village, will strengthen ecological breeding and circular agriculture, setting a benchmark for agricultural non-point source pollution control and high-quality development of animal husbandry in Puding County.
"Through the primary industry providing high-quality raw materials, the secondary industry enhancing product added value, and the tertiary industry expanding markets and consumption scenarios, we achieve close linkage and coordinated progress among the three industries," Li Zhe told reporters. The Puding assistance team focuses on leading industries and adheres to a "two-legged approach" to advance deep processing of agricultural products: on one hand, with Shuijing Village as the core, independently developing deep processing to create aviation-quality landmark "hit products," such as building the Shuijing lotus root powder factory and tea factory to extend the agricultural industry chain. On the other hand, linking with leading enterprises to strengthen secondary industry support, relying on their processing capacity and market resources to deeply process assisted agricultural products such as Maguan mushrooms, sunflowers, and Longhei Longcai rice and rapeseed flowers, enhancing product added value and promoting close linkage and coordinated progress among the three industries.
Li Zhe further stated that in terms of tertiary industry development, with the Shawan tourism scenic area as the flagship, connecting Yelang Lake, the thousand-mu lotus pond in Shuijing Village, and the intangible cultural heritage resources of Maguan community, incorporating innovative elements including the low-altitude economy, creating a "Beautiful Rural Journey" premium cultural tourism route in Puding County, striving to build Puding County into a comprehensive rural revitalization demonstration highland integrating ecological planting and breeding, health and wellness tourism, and cultural experiences.
Strengthening the Industrial Chain with "Aviation+"
On the exterior wall of the teaching building at Shuimu Primary School in Puding County, a themed mural of "Chasing Dreams in the Blue Sky" stands out prominently. In the cultural corridor, the aviation development history from the Wright Brothers to the C919 large aircraft is vividly displayed in pictures and text.
Wang Zeyong, director of the Rural Revitalization Office at Guizhou Fenglei Aviation Ordnance Co., Ltd., worked in an assistance position in Puding County for seven years. He told reporters that many rural schools in the area lack science and technology education resources, and most children are left-behind children lacking basic aviation knowledge. In September 2021, AVIC signed a paired assistance agreement with Shuimu Primary School in Puding County. Anchoring the goal of building a "Blue Sky Youth" aviation science popularization system, the Puding Working Group deeply integrated the spirit of aviation service to the nation with the growth needs of rural youth, selected volunteer teachers with both teaching qualifications and instructional foundations to form a professional team, invested resources in batches for five consecutive years, built standardized aviation science classrooms, and used after-school service time to carry out systematic course teaching.
Wang Zeyong stated that AVIC invested a cumulative total of over 3 million yuan in assistance funds to build a plastic sports field, paint the teaching building exterior walls, and purchase books, equipment, and school uniforms and backpacks for the school. Ultimately, the primary school successfully earned the title of "National Aviation Characteristic School," and "a group of children deep in the mountains flew out of the mountains under the nourishment of aviation science popularization."
In addition to educational assistance, AVIC also uses its own advantages to help Puding County develop the low-altitude economy industry. From August 6 to 29, the 2026 Blue Wing Pioneer Drone Pilot Training Class officially opened, with more than 20 grassroots representatives from various townships in Puding County, the agriculture and rural affairs system, and the water affairs system participating in the training. It is reported that this training integrates theoretical teaching and practical training, with courses covering drone flight principles, laws and regulations, and other theoretical knowledge, as well as hovering control, equipment calibration, and other practical content, benchmarking against industry assessment standards throughout. After the training, trainees are organized to participate in skill assessments by human resources and social security departments. Those who pass the assessment can obtain drone pilot skill level certificates, providing formal qualification guarantees for subsequent drone-related operations.
"We actively cultivate aviation supporting industries, exploring application systems such as complete aircraft and component testing, low-altitude flight training, customized research and development, and low-altitude logistics, and combining with the needs of agricultural, cultural, and tourism integration development to expand characteristic scenarios such as hot air balloon sightseeing and low-altitude experiences," Li Zhe told reporters.
According to Li Zhe, Puding County will rely on the resources of the Anpu Avenue new city area to actively integrate into the overall construction of Guizhou Aviation Industry City, becoming an important industrial supplement and foundation support. At the same time, it will seize the opportunity of Anshun City's advancement of the Qianzhong Anshun (Huangtong) Multimodal Transport Logistics Hub project, leverage cargo distribution advantages, link with AVIC to explore "low-altitude + logistics" application scenarios, and advance drone delivery pilot programs in the Huangtong Logistics Park.
"Next, we will deepen the connection between Puding Economic Development Zone and Aviation Industry City, cultivate local aluminum enterprises including Kengwei Aluminum to become potential aviation supporting suppliers, and promote extended cooperation in comprehensive utilization of hot steam and deep processing of aluminum materials, helping local industries integrate into the aviation industry chain," Li Zhe further stated.