Wangtai township, located in the coastal city of Qingdao, east China's Shandong province, is a renowned textile machinery hub, home to the country's largest production base of shuttleless looms and water-jet looms. Gao Xude, a local resident, saw a business opportunity in this industry after graduating from college decades ago and established a small workshop to produce plastic accessories for textile machinery assembly. 

His company, Jinhualong Zhongyi Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., has since grown into a small high-tech enterprise with annual sales of between 30 and 50 million yuan ($7.3 million), over 30 patents, and a workforce of 30 people, of whom 80% are women.

After becoming successful, Gao did not forget the community. He devoted himself to helping his peer villagers and was elected as party secretary of Wangtai village in 2011. The village is home to over 10,492 residents and 439 party members.

In recent years, Gao and his colleagues have led the village to renovate public toilets, with a renovation rate of 95%, and set up two fitness squares, 800 meters of garden fences and greening on both sides of the street. He also led the efforts to install water purifying equipment at the cost of about 50,000 yuan, providing the community with safe drinking water.

Gao emphasizes the importance of grassroots-level efforts to develop the collective economy as a crucial step towards strengthening agriculture, beautifying the countryside, and improving the lives of residents. He believes that this is the only way to realize rural vitalization. 

Gao said that Party committees at the village level are key to the successful implementation of Party policies as they deal directly with the people. As a Chinese saying goes, it takes a good blacksmith to forge good steel.

In recent years, Wangtai village has taken advantage of various strategic opportunities to undertake a comprehensive program of demolition and redevelopment.

As the village party secretary, Gao has been at the forefront of the village's renewal projects. He visits worksites during the day to coordinate the work, and convenes meetings in the evenings to address thorny issues. During the crucial stage of centralized signing, he often works until late into the night.

Wangtai village, which is made up of several smaller villages known as "grid villages," cleared nearly 2,000 mu (133 hectares) of land in just 30 days, allowing the construction of large projects to start on time. Additionally, Wangtai Bei grid village achieved a 100% completion rate of village reform contracts in just 15 days. The demolition tasks of Langzhonggou and Wangtai Dong grid villages were also completed on schedule.

All four grid villages completed the renewal work in three months, setting an example for other villages across the country.

In addition, Gao participates in various philanthropic and public welfare activities. He and his wife have donated hundreds of thousands of yuan annually towards disaster relief, anti-epidemic work, and poverty alleviation efforts. They also set up scholarships to support underprivileged students.