Returned from China, an Indonesian village chief held a rural volleyball tournament

BEIJING, Dec. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from China.org.cn on China's "small and beautiful" cooperation and assistance programs:

On an open-air volleyball court, players leapt, spiked and sweated for victory, while spectators packed the makeshift stands and lined the sidelines, cheering at the top of their lungs. This is a scene from a recent countryside volleyball match in Purwosono, a village in Lumajang Regency in Indonesia's East Java Province. The excitement remained unshaken even by a light drizzle.

This scene might ring a bell to some – the "Cunchao," China's Village Super League, which went viral in China's Guizhou province. Well, it was Cunchao that inspired this Indonesian village volleyball showdown.

In 2023, Purwosono's village chief Hendrik Dwi Martono joined the Indonesian Rural Cadre Training Program, also known as the village chief program, and travelled to China on an exchange visit. This trip took him to rural areas in Beijing, Zhejiang and beyond. The experience offered Hendrik some key takeaways about rural governance, and he became particularly intrigued by the model of combining rural community development with sports. Given Indonesia's strong volleyball culture, the idea of an inter-village volleyball league came naturally to him.

"I hope to see this tournament drive the local economy, while offering a stage for young people to showcase their talents, and strengthen ties with neighboring villages," Hendrik said. His hopes were not in vain: Hundreds of spectators showed up for the event, the village bustled with activity, and villagers' small businesses thrived, bringing tangible benefits.

To date, Indonesia's "village chief program" has been held for five years in a row, with over 100 Indonesian village chiefs from rural and underdeveloped areas visiting China on study tours. Last month, 26 participants visited Shandong Province where they learned about agricultural machinery assembly techniques, studied the models of local agricultural cooperatives and rural education, while taking notes and asking questions actively throughout the visit.

The village chief program is far from the only example of how China is "teaching others the fishing techniques instead of giving them fish" in regards to rural governance.

This June, Musa, a Gambian farmer and entrepreneur traveled all the way to China, and laid a bag of hybrid rice, grown in Africa using China's hybrid rice technology, at the tomb of Academician Yuan Longping.

Such profound gratitude and respect stem from the China-Gambia agricultural technology cooperation program launched in 2019. Back then, Musa's farm was suffering heavy losses and faced closure due to a shortage of mature technologies and labor. Experts from Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd have not only introduced to Gambia the first rice transplanter among other modernized agricultural machinery, but also supported local farmers with professional technological guidance and training.

From manual threshing to full mechanization, Musa's farm has long bid farewell to poor yields. Rice yields have surged, more varieties have been cultivated, and the cultivated area has expanded over thirtyfold.

The list of such "small and beautiful" cooperation and assistance programs goes on. For example, juncao, initially a hybrid grass unique to China, which can be used to grow mushrooms, combat sandstorms, feed herds, and even generate electricity and produce paper, has been introduced to Pacific island countries, bringing hope for better livelihoods to local people. Meanwhile, the multifunctional photovoltaic wells constructed with the help of China's Yunnan Province have helped poverty-stricken villages in Myanmar gain access to quality drinking water, boosting their planting-related income while easing water shortages.

For years, China has pressed ahead on the path of poverty reduction and rural revitalization, demonstrating through its own practice that poverty can be eliminated, and that rural communities hold immense promise. China is more than happy to share its development fruits and experience to help more countries and regions improve livelihoods, so that more people not only have enough food to eat, but can look forward to a better life.

But speaking of which — who's up for setting up a stall at Indonesia's volleyball nights? Count me in!

China Mosaic
http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm 

Returned from China, an Indonesian village chief held a rural volleyball tournament
http://www.china.org.cn/video/2025-12/05/content_118213076.shtml 

SOURCE China.org.cn