Jiangsu province celebrates the 2019 Farmers' Harvest Festival in Huaxi village, Wuxi on Sept 23. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Jiangsu province celebrated the 2019 Farmers' Harvest Festival in Huaxi village, Wuxi on Sept 23.

Locals made the most of the harvest season by putting on a traditional performance, demonstrating their skills in a number of traditional art forms, and exhibiting their agricultural products around Longxi Square.

Huaxi village in Jiangsu province has long been considered the country's No 1 village in terms of industrial ventures by farmers. The village was extremely poor in the 1970s, with only 1,764 yuan ($248) in assets and 20,000 yuan in debts. It wasn't until its former chief, Wu Renbao (1928-2013), kick-started local industrial development that the villagers were able to shake off poverty.

The village is now home to a Shenzhen-listed company called Jiangsu Huaxi Group Corp. The company has total assets of over 50 billion yuan and is helping the village transition from low-efficiency steel and textile businesses to high-end manufacturing, modern agriculture and high-technology.

A traditional performance is staged in Huaxi village in celebration of the 2019 Farmers' Harvest Festival on Sept 23. [Photo by Pan Qi/chinadaily.com.cn]

Leaders from 11 famous villages across China also gathered in Huaxi to discuss rural revitalization on the evening of Sept 22.

In addition to the main event in Huaxi, there are also several smaller events in villages located throughout northern Jiangsu province, including Mazhuang village in Xuzhou and Tangzhuang village in Taizhou.d

Known as the "land of fish and rice", Jiangsu is an economically developed agricultural province. The province's grain output last year reached 37.6 billion kg, almost 5 times that of 1949, and the per capita disposable income for rural residents surged from 88 yuan in 1954 to 20,845 yuan last year.

Locals make a harvest-themed paperwork called panzhi, an intangible cultural heritage in which artworks are created out of paper through the use of special techniques. [Photo by Pan Qi/chinadaily.com.cn]

Local agricultural products are exhibited and sold in Huaxi village on Sept 23. [Photo by Pan Qi/chinadaily.com.cn]