240-330 square meters. Each villa has a total building area of 600 square meters and a front yard. The apartments have a floor space of 80-140 square meters. Both the villas and apartment buildings are built of concrete and brick so they can withstand an 8.0-magnitude earthquake, Li said.

The houses were sold to villagers at a price of 400 yuan ($57.47) per square meter. Moreover, every household received a 30,000-yuan ($4,310.34) incentive from the village to move into the new home. At last, villagers paid only about 30 percent of the construction costs.

The village also provides social welfare for its residents. Every year it pays 80 yuan ($11.49) per villager for health insurance, making the insurance cover 70 percent of their medical expenses, Zhang said. There are a township hospital and a village hospital in the locality with a total of 120 beds and more than 20 doctors and nurses.

In addition, every villager can get a free supply of 150 kg of flour every year and half a ton of tap water each month. Every disabled villager receives an annual subsidy of 720 yuan ($103.45). The village also offers jobs such as cleaners to those who are physically capable of working.

"Only if they are not bedridden and want to do something, all the villagers can get jobs," said Zhang.

In recent years, Hancunhe has diversified its main industry, switching from construction to real estate. Hanjian has had two real estate projects under construction in Beijing, according to Zhang. In 2005, the Heshan Pipeline Co., which is affiliated with Hanjian, won a 556 million-yuan ($79.89 million) contract to manufacture a prestressed concrete cylinder pipe for the 25-km Fangshan section of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The village factories provide all the materials for the project.

As a model of new countryside construction and a modern village, Hancunhe receives more than 300,000 visitors every year, which adds about 10 million yuan ($1.44 million) to the villagers' income, Zhang said.