Urban villages are special communities that have emerged with the process of industrialization and urbanization in China. In many mega cities, the existence of urban villages allows many migrant workers to settle down in the city at a relatively low cost. However, for a long time, due to weak infrastructure construction, high safety risks, and lagging social governance capabilities, urban villages have become areas with frequent conflicts, disputes, and accidents. The modern governance of urban villages is not only a tough nut to crack, but also a necessary question to face. Starting from April 2023, Xiamen City in Fujian Province will promote the transformation of 108 urban villages in the city with the concept of modern governance. The plan is to use three years to build urban villages into livable, business friendly, intelligent, and harmonious modern communities through party building guidance, resident participation, and multi-party investment. Governance of risks and hidden dangers ensures that residents of urban villages can live safely. Xin'an Village in Xinyang Street, Haicang District is adjacent to an industrial park and has a population of about 100000, making it the most populous urban village outside Xiamen Island. The village has 2125 rental houses, dense aerial cables, long-term overloaded water and electricity usage, and prominent problems such as illegal construction and road occupation. Fire accidents and various cases have been frequent for a long time. In Xiamen, nearly 60% of fires and public security incidents occur in urban villages. To ensure that the people live safely, "said Zhang Zhihong, Deputy Mayor of Xiamen City. In response to the safety hazards and living environment problems in urban villages that involve the vital interests of the masses, Xiamen has increased financial investment, and state-owned enterprises such as power and communication operators have jointly participated to leverage social investment, improve the infrastructure of urban villages, identify various safety hazards, and enhance the sense of security of the masses. Qiu Shuhui, a villager from Xin'an Village, owns 45 rental properties. She told reporters, "Previously, we were most worried about tenants' electric vehicles catching fire. Since last year, the village has planned a unified fire safety renovation, with electric vehicles parked outdoors and fire doors added. Tenants and us have felt much more at ease." The reporter saw in multiple urban villages that alleys have been opened up, fire stations have been built, and fire patrol vehicles have been added. Some villages have also customized "new water belt laying vehicles" suitable for narrow roads in urban villages, equipped with dedicated emergency comprehensive management teams. Once a fire or other accident occurs, emergency response can be in place within 3 to 5 minutes. Push the cable into the ground, allowing villagers to "look up and see the blue sky". Luo Bin, a second level employee of State Grid Xiamen Power Supply Company, told reporters that the power department has dispatched a specialized team to the village to conduct detailed surveys and investigations, re plan the routing of strong and weak electricity, and expand transformers or set up substations to eliminate potential electricity hazards. At present, 71 urban villages have started power upgrading and renovation, and 42 villages have been renovated, "said Li Decai, director of Xiamen Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau. Since promoting the modernization of urban villages, Xiamen has taken" cable grounding "as the starting point, added 5.8 million meters of weak current optical cables, added 220000 kVA of power supply capacity, and cleared 1.02 million square meters of illegal buildings. By addressing various risks and hidden dangers, the number of urban village fire accidents in the city decreased by 41.7% year-on-year from January to August 2024. The Party building leads the digitization and solidifies the foundation of governance, forming a governance synergy. The key is to integrate grassroots governance resources through Party building guidance. Lai Zuhui, Minister of the Social Work Department of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee, said that while building strong village (community) party organizations, Xiamen is exploring a four level organizational structure of "street party working committee community party committee village social party branch village party group", with the community party committee as the main platform for discussion and negotiation of the "big party committee" in urban villages, extending the tentacles of party building to the nerve endings of urban villages. Walking into Malong Community, Dianqian Street, Huli District, the street is spacious and tidy, and looking up, you can see the "wireless beauty" of the blue sky. In just over a year, Malong Community has changed its appearance, which cannot be separated from the support and participation of the masses, "said Tang Dada, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Dianqian Street. The community has established a comprehensive governance committee under the leadership of the Party committee, inviting villagers and party member representatives to participate. Weekly activities are organized, including policy lectures, discussions, and inviting representatives to supervise construction, allowing more people to participate in urban village governance. One of the challenges in urban village governance is the complexity of personnel, unclear situation, and unclear bottom line. Xiamen is exploring the digitization of information on people, land, affairs, things, and emotions in urban villages, focusing on building smart communities and enhancing governance capabilities. Huangcuo Community, Binhai Street, Siming District, is located on the beautiful Huandao Road, facing the sea and backed by mountains. It is a popular tourist check-in spot with an annual passenger flow of nearly 3 million people. Due to the high density and mobility of personnel, it is difficult to grasp the number of residential and rental properties, as well as potential risks and hidden dangers in real time. On the intelligent management platform of Huatou Community's urban village in Huangcuo Community, real-time information such as buildings, vehicles, and road surfaces is displayed on the wall screen. Zhao Ke, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Binhai Street, told reporters that each village in the street sorted out various types of information in their jurisdiction, and grid personnel collected and entered them one by one into the platform to achieve dynamic management and promote the digital operation of urban village governance. The roof of Tongji Building is smoking, please send someone to the scene to deal with it quickly At 5:51 pm on July 2nd, the staff of Houpu Community in Huli District monitored the situation from the smart platform and issued a warning in the first time. The community grid staff quickly rushed to the scene and completed the disposal quickly. Wu Xinkui, Secretary of the Huli District Committee, said that Huli District will build a digital management platform, establish a comprehensive station building integrating 5G data center, intelligent platform command center, grid services and other functions, and achieve real-life modeling of urban villages. Since the establishment of the platform, more than 10000 warning events have been identified, which has improved the informationization level of urban village governance. In 2023, the first batch of 25 villages in Xiamen to promote modern governance of urban villages saw a 35% decrease in criminal police cases. The 46 villages promoted this year saw a year-on-year decrease of 23.98% in criminal police cases and 9.71% in public security police cases in the first half of the year. By emphasizing the inheritance of cultural heritage and enhancing the "hematopoietic" function, it has been learned through research that most urban villages in Xiamen have a single source of income and a low land output rate. However, many urban villages have a profound cultural history, rich cultural heritage resources such as cultural relics, architectural styles, and historical districts, and still retain the original traditional village texture to this day. In promoting the modern governance of urban villages, Xiamen attaches great importance to protecting and inheriting historical and cultural resources, fully tapping into their modern value, adapting to local conditions to activate and utilize them, planning cultural creativity and industry university research formats. In Huangcuo Community, a once dilapidated "Huangcuo Brigade Building" welcomes new life. This two-story brick and stone structure building, built in 1964, carries the memories and nostalgia of Huangcuo as a coastal defense frontline village. However, it was later sublet and used as a small processing workshop, and the area is messy and old. Through repair and reinforcement, as well as landscape renovation, the brigade building, auditorium, and square have been transformed into exhibition halls such as contemporary art museums, and the ancient houses have been revitalized, gradually becoming the "popular beauty responsibility" of the Ta Tou Society. Explore resource endowments and do a good job in promoting cross-strait integration. Houxi Village, Houxi Town, Jimei District, is a traditional cultural protection village in Fujian Province. Chenghuang Temple built in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty is preserved. Su Guohui, Deputy Secretary of Jimei District Committee, said that Houxi Village is synchronously planning industrial upgrading and building a cross-strait youth entrepreneurship base during the renovation. It has now begun to take shape and attracts thousands of cross-strait university students to exchange and study here every year. While inheriting and protecting cultural heritage, Xiamen emphasizes the use of market-oriented means to involve more social capital in the governance of urban villages. Through the introduction of platform companies and the establishment of project companies through village collective joint ventures, Xiamen integrates the construction of public facilities, smart platform management, and industrial upgrading in urban villages, develops diversified business models in urban villages, and enhances their "hematopoietic" function. The reporter saw in the Weili Community of Huli District that the once overgrown idle land is being transformed into a cultural and creative block, with container shops, trunk markets and other businesses being laid out. Abandoned ancient houses are being renovated, and public facilities such as basketball courts, parking lots, and resident narrative gardens are also being planned and constructed. The community is revitalizing with new vitality. (New Society)