As a livestream promoting local mushrooms gets underway in Qingyuan County, Lishui City, east China's Zhejiang Province, the steady rhythm of packing tape and scanning labels fills the small workshop. Villagers move briskly behind the camera, sorting products, sealing packages and preparing orders for delivery.

This is the Xiangxingu mushroom workshop, run by local entrepreneur Wu Xiaojun. Inside the workspace, shelves of locally grown mushrooms line the walls as workers shift between packaging and managing online orders for customers across China.

Such workshop is part of Zhejiang's growing network of "common prosperity workshops" - a development model designed to bring jobs, skills and industrial opportunities directly into rural communities. Built through partnerships among village collectives, communities and enterprises, these workshops encourage companies to relocate suitable production and processing activities into villages, enabling residents to earn an income closer to home.

Five years after China designated Zhejiang as a demonstration zone for common prosperity, Zhejiang had established more than 12,700 "common prosperity workshops," providing employment opportunities for 551,000 people across the province.

The emergence of "common prosperity workshops" did not happen in isolation. It reflects a longer transformation in Zhejiang's countryside that began more than two decades ago with the "Green Rural Revival Program."

From village renewal to shared prosperity

In 2003, Zhejiang launched the "Thousand Villages Demonstration, Ten Thousand Villages Renovation" initiative, now widely known as the "Green Rural Revival Program."

At the time, many rural areas faced poor infrastructure, limited public services and declining village environments. The initiative focused on improving basic living conditions through upgraded roads, cleaner waterways and better public facilities, reshaping the physical landscape of the countryside.

Over time, however, the program evolved beyond environmental improvement. As villages became cleaner and more livable, development priorities gradually shifted from improving living conditions to building long-term growth capacity.

"Common prosperity workshops" have emerged as one of the latest practical outcomes of this transformation, extending the Green Rural Revival Program from environmental restoration to industrial development and income growth at the grassroots level.

Qingyuan's experience illustrates how this shift has taken shape on the ground. The county has developed a forest-based mushroom cultivation industry that integrates environmental protection with agricultural production, while also linking the edible fungi sector with rural tourism to extend its industrial value chain. In 2024, Qingyuan's edible fungi industry generated nearly 5.8 billion yuan ($800 million) in output value.

Meanwhile, the county, by 2024 has established 54 "common wealth workshops," creating more than 2,000 local jobs and raising monthly incomes by an average of 1,800 yuan for participating residents.

The broader results of the "Green Rural Revival Program" are visible across Zhejiang. In 2025, rural residents' per capita disposable income exceeded 45,000 yuan, ranking first among China's provincial-level regions for 41 consecutive years, while the urban-rural income gap continued to narrow, from 2.43:1 in 2003 to 1.81:1 in 2025.

A Zhejiang story with global relevance

Zhejiang's experience has also attracted growing international attention.

Long before the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Green Rural Revival Program was already exploring ways to improve living standards while protecting the environment. Its achievements gained global recognition in 2018 when it received the UN's prestigious Champions of the Earth Award.

Beyond international accolades, Zhejiang has increasingly become a destination for foreign leaders seeking insights into China's development path. In recent months, leaders from Germany, Pakistan, Serbia and Laos have all included Zhejiang in their China visits, with Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith choosing to travel to Zhejiang's villages to learn more about its approach to ecological conservation and rural revitalization.

Former UN Environment Executive Director Erik Solheim, who has closely followed China's rural development, has repeatedly praised Zhejiang's transformation. During visits to the province, he remarked that what can be seen there is "the future of China, and perhaps even the future of the world."

Back in Qingyuan, that story continues to unfold in Wu's workshop. As mushroom orders leave the village for destinations across China, they carry with them a reminder that economic growth and social equity do not have to be competing goals. Instead, they can reinforce one another.