More and more residents from Linxi Village in Nantong City have travelled overseas to seek business opportunities since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping.  

Linxi is the first village in Jiangsu Province recognized for a large percentage of its residents working or doing business abroad. Among its 3,500 residents, the number of those working or doing business overseas has grown from over 200 to 600 in the past ten years. The number of destination countries has also increased from over 20 to 40 in the period. In addition, more than 80% of those engaged in overseas business activities are based in Russia, Romania, South Africa, and Chile. 

The village’s entrepreneur Yu Jin initially specialized in trade in Zambia. In 2017, recognizing a lack of blood collection tubes in local hospitals, he invested his savings in many years to build a medical equipment factory equipped with class 100,000 cleanrooms. His transition from trade to manufacturing has proven successful as the products are also sold in Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and other countries.