Fujian province's Houhuang village has become a rural getaway for urbanites, with its proximity to the city, green fields, clean river and ancient buildings.[Photo by Yang Feiyue/China Daily]

Xu's efforts paid off.

Now, locals - from the elderly to children of five - pick up litter on the roads, he says.

A sewage system has been built to deal with wastewater and three years of efforts have yielded dividend.

Now a clean environment draws visitors to spend weekends and holidays in the village.

Xu knew that tourism was an effective way to transform the village. "But to do this, the locals had to get out of poverty, before a friendly neighborhood could be developed," he says.

Therefore, Xu established a rural cooperative and created job opportunities for locals, such as food plantation.

His measures worked.

Local income was a little more than 3,000 yuan ($440) a year in 2006. But it increased to more than 30,000 yuan a few years later.

Buildings in the village were also remodeled and turned into folk art centers and diners.

Xu is now planning to integrate the surrounding villages to form a greater Dahuang village resort.

He is unequivocal when he speaks about the future of the village.

The local ecology and rural elements are the key and won't be replaced or compromised, he says.

"We used red bricks and tiles to keep the original elements of the old buildings."

Recently, a celebrity reality show was shot in the village and it will be released next year.

"We expect it to bring in even more visitors", says Xu.