Dazhong Net Linyi | Hedong District People's Congress representative Meng Linggui: Leading residents on the road to happiness

　　Spacious and comfortable houses, clean and tidy streets, and flower-lined roadsides... Entering the Mengjiayu Bu Community, one sees a picture of cleanliness, order, civilization, and prosperity.

　　Mengjiayu Bu Community is located in the Jiqu Street Office of Hedong District. For fourteen years, under the leadership of Meng Linggui, the community Party secretary and a representative of the 19th Hedong District People's Congress, focusing on people's livelihood and making precise efforts, it has embarked on a broad road to poverty alleviation and enrichment, transforming the once poor and backward village.

　　Unwavering Initial Aspiration, Shouldering the Burden of Development

　　On rainy days, looking at the torrential rain through the office window, Meng Linggui often recalls the past. In those days, whenever the rainy season came to Mengjiayu Bu Village, the entire village would be mired in impassable mud. Even worse, if it rained heavily enough, the village would often be flooded up to the waist. Forget about going out; villagers' daily lives would be severely affected. In winter, it was another heartbreaking scene. Poor families couldn't afford coal and could only pick up firewood to keep warm. The whole house was filled with smoke, making people's eyes water, but it still didn't solve the problem of keeping warm. Often, elderly people would not survive the winter... Growing up in a time of extreme material scarcity and experiencing all the hardships, it tempered Meng Linggui's perseverance and planted a seed early in his heart: to achieve a better life through hard work and lead all villagers on the road to happiness.

　　In 2004, Meng Linggui was elected as the Party branch secretary of Mengjiayu Bu Village, which was not an easy task. The entire village was still struggling on the poverty line, and everything needed to be rebuilt. The village's only industry—the Dongxing Electroplating Center—was in its initial stages of operation and had many problems. The direction of "leading villagers on the road to happiness" and how to achieve it became a difficult challenge, but Meng Linggui could not put down the burden on his shoulders, nor the expectation of a bright future.

　　For some people, difficulties are like a hammer striking a workpiece, knocking off fragile iron filings and forging sharp steel. When the rainy season came, he led the "two committees" to visit households, carrying elderly people trapped by floodwaters to safety; in winter, they installed electric heaters for every poor household and waived the electricity fees for the entire winter... But this alone was not enough to lead villagers to a better life, so Meng Linggui kept searching for opportunities to become wealthy.

　　In 2005, the Dongxing Electroplating Center was forced to shut down due to pollution problems. In addition, the deliberate obstruction of bullies also hindered the center's development, and Meng Linggui and members of the "two committees" were repeatedly threatened. Faced with multiple difficulties and dangers, he believed that no matter how difficult it was, the Dongxing Electroplating Center, as the foundation of Mengjiayu Bu, could not be "abandoned." To revitalize the Dongxing Electroplating Center, on the one hand, Meng Linggui stepped forward and led the "two committees" to resolutely fight against the bullies, protecting the villagers' rights and interests; on the other hand, he led investigation teams to Zhejiang several times to investigate and connect with advanced electroplating industrial parks, conducting in-depth thinking and learning, gaining advanced operational management concepts, and bringing valuable renovation plans back to his hometown.

　　However, more thorny problems awaited. There was a renovation plan, but no funding. Under immense pressure, Meng Linggui was determined to push forward the renovation project of the Dongxing Electroplating Center. To this end, Meng Linggui, together with members of the "two committees," raised funds from various sources, but it was far from enough to support the entire renovation project. He thought of the operators of the electroplating center. He said that the renovation and environmental protection of the Dongxing Electroplating Center were the necessary path for its normal operation. We all hope that the entire center can survive and develop. For our own future, we must unite to complete the renovation of the electroplating center. Under Meng Linggui's leadership, members of the "two committees" went door-to-door to promote the significance of the renovation and upgrading. Their efforts paid off, and the renovation and upgrading plan received strong support from the operators, who agreed to prepay the lease to alleviate the urgent need. After raising more than 3 million yuan in renovation funds, the wastewater treatment plant of the Dongxing Electroplating Center was successfully built, meeting all environmental standards, and the electroplating industry was finally reborn.

　　When Meng Linggui took office as Party branch secretary, the village committee only had more than 500,000 yuan in its account, but there was a heavy pressure of more than 1 million yuan in outstanding payments. When implementing various tasks, Meng Linggui's most frequent concern was how to solve the funding problem. Therefore, although Meng Linggui often hoped that all villagers could move from their earthen houses to spacious and bright buildings, this hope seemed far-fetched. In 2007, Meng Linggui had a good idea. He conducted several rounds of cooperation talks with the Zhengzhi Driving School, from fixed asset allocation to land exchange and the acquisition of the old Zhengzhi Driving School, which led to the launch of the "Shuxiang Mansion" housing project. The first phase of the "Shuxiang Mansion" project solved the housing problem for residents, especially older youth, and the remaining housing units were sold to the public, generating more than 10 million yuan in profit. Based on the experience gained in the early stages, the second phase of "Shuxiang Mansion," Chengkai Dongcheng, achieved a profit of 30 million yuan.

　　In Meng Linggui's view, the electroplating industry is an industry with a bright future, and the transformation and upgrading of the Dongxing Electroplating Center will be a long and comprehensive process. Using the profits from "Shuxiang Mansion," Meng Linggui began the renovation and upgrading project of the new electroplating industrial park. After four phases of renovation, with a total investment of more than 100 million yuan, the scientific planning of the park area and standardized workshops were built, and all environmental indicators were perfected, creating a new industrial park of considerable scale. By 2018, the annual profit of the Dongxing Electroplating Center had increased from the initial 400,000 yuan to more than 20 million yuan, achieving a qualitative leap.

　　In 2008, Mengjiayu Bu Village was transformed into a community, and a community Party committee was established, with Meng Linggui serving as the community Party secretary. At the same time, Meng Linggui never forgot his dream—to lead community residents to a better life. In March 2013, the old village renovation project was launched. Meng Linggui thoroughly explained the national policies on old village renovation, demolishing 260 mu of land, involving more than 550 villagers. This move received strong support from the residents, and the demolition was successfully completed. Today, Mengjiayu Bu Village is no longer the poor and backward village it once was. During festivals, the community distributes oil, rice, flour, and other living necessities to residents, and elderly people receive annual living allowances, all telling of the happiness brought about by the transformation.

　　In July 2013, Shandong Huaye Investment Group Co., Ltd., a community collective enterprise, was established, marking the beginning of a new era of group management. In the following years, Meng Linggui, together with all the residents of Mengjia Yu Bu community and Huaye employees, forged a path of rapid development. Mengjia Yu Bu community has won first place in the comprehensive assessment of Jiuqu Street for many consecutive years, receiving numerous provincial, municipal, and district honors. Its assets have reached hundreds of millions of yuan, making it a model community. Huaye Group has also become a diversified, comprehensive investment group integrating environmental protection, real estate, agriculture, and finance, spanning multiple industries and fields. Meng Linggui, the "good secretary" who has led residents towards a better life, has also won the unanimous recognition and love of the residents and has been re-elected for four consecutive terms.

　　Looking back on fourteen years of growth, every key moment has been filled with hardship and uncertainty. It is Meng Linggui's original aspiration of "leading residents on the road to happiness" and the unremitting efforts and pioneering spirit of his team that have given Mengjia Yu Bu community the opportunity to overcome difficulties and the potential for continuous progress.

　　Moving forward, seeking greater benefits

　　Building Mengjia Yu Bu community into a more beautiful place and ensuring that the villagers continue to enjoy a strong sense of happiness is a question that Meng Linggui has always considered, focused on, and acted upon. In October 2017, Mengjia Yu Bu community was designated as a pilot site for the reform of the collective ownership system in urban communities in Jiuqu Street. Under Meng Linggui's leadership, by May 2018, the reform pilot task was completed to a high standard and high quality. Huaye Group, into which Meng Linggui has poured fourteen years of effort, was granted the special legal person status of a collective economic organization, formally establishing a modern enterprise system. This will unleash greater development vitality and reform dividends, ultimately benefiting all residents of Mengjia Yu Bu community.

　　When talking about the development of Huaye Group, residents all praise Meng Linggui. In their eyes, their "good secretary" is also a "businessman" who understands strategy and is good at management. A recent survey conducted by Hejun Consulting Company on "What is the core competitiveness of Huaye Group" showed that "the chairman's strategic vision" ranked first with 66% of the votes, confirming the residents' impression of Meng Linggui.

　　After fourteen years of development, Huaye Group has grown from an initially single-industry and problematic "workshop-style" enterprise into a diversified, comprehensive investment group integrating environmental protection, real estate, agriculture, and finance, spanning multiple industries and fields. In 2017, under Meng Linggui's leadership, Huaye Group formulated its "First Five-Year Development Strategic Plan," clarifying the tone of industrial upgrading and making the group's future path more solid. In 2018, Huaye Group hired Hejun Consulting Company to launch an organizational optimization and management upgrade project and comprehensively carried out information construction, laying the management foundation for the group's future development. In his plan and vision, the future Huaye Group will be a promoter and leader of industrial upgrading and an important participant and driver of economic construction. The environmental protection sector, based on the current comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement signed with Harbin Institute of Technology, the establishment of Linyi Municipal Surface Engineering Key Laboratory, and the construction of a 560-mu surface technology ecological demonstration park, will strive to become a national-level surface engineering key laboratory and a national-level intelligent surface technology ecological demonstration park integrating "big data, Internet of Things, and cloud computing." The agricultural sector, based on current cooperation with Fujian Zhengshantang Tea Industry and Shandong Agricultural University, as well as the establishment of thousands of mu of organic tea bases in Junan and Yinan and fully automated green tea and black tea production lines, will strengthen the "Wanqing Green Tea" and "Qiru Red Black Tea" brands of high-quality organic tea in North Jiangsu, creating a combined planting and breeding three-dimensional ecological agricultural circle and a demonstration base for integrated tea tourism and culture development in North Jiangsu. The real estate sector, based on the already developed high-quality residential projects "Shuxiang Mansion" and "Shuxiang Shangcheng" and its own high-quality property services, will strive to build a high-quality life comprehensive service provider of "real estate + service" and create a more perfect living space. The financial sector, building on its service to more than 100 small and micro enterprises in Linyi, will adhere to its inclusive nature of supporting the development of small and micro enterprises and continuously promote the better development of the financial sector.

　　Seeking greater benefits for the people is the goal that Meng Linggui constantly thinks about and strives for, and it is his unchanging original aspiration. Under his strategic planning and operation, the development of Huaye Group is limitless, but no matter what reforms and development it undergoes, it is ultimately for the happiness of the residents of Mengjia Yu Bu community and for the economic construction and prosperity and peace of the region.

　　Juggling community affairs and enterprise development, Meng Linggui is constantly busy. Weekends, which are ordinary for others, are a luxury for him. However, his remuneration for this hard work is not high. Many people don't understand, saying that it's not worth it, but Meng Linggui says, "As long as the residents live a good life, it's all worth it."