Once the smallest, least populous, and poorest village in Zhangjiagang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, Yonglian Village has rewritten its story through hard work and smart choices.

During China's reform and opening-up era, village leaders mobilized residents to dig ponds for fish farming and launch small collective businesses, ranging from cement prefabrication and furniture workshops to a steel-rolling plant. As the village-run Jiangsu Yonggang Group took off, Yonglian gradually earned the proud nickname "China's No.1 steel village."

But Yonglian's success didn't end with industry. Powered by the Yonggang Group, the village has reinvested industrial profits in the countryside, developing grain fields, plant nurseries, and vegetable farms, as well as leisure agriculture parks. By weaving agriculture, culture, and tourism together, Yonglian has carved a new path in whole-area tourism, offering a vivid example of rural revitalization in action.