A nationwide campaign now exhorts all Chinese to learn from Zhangjiagang. More than 1.6 million pilgrims visited last year. Once among the poorest places in the Yangtze River valley, Zhangjiagang has become, by rural standards, enormously rich. Factories hum, churning out goods like woolen sweaters and mini-vans for domestic and overseas markets. But it is the city's ideological zeal that sets it apart.
Officials routinely check up on each family's hygiene, etiquette and general behavior.
She lives with her family of five in a two-story house with a lush garden. She's very much with the program. Now it's become a habit. I even pick up litter dropped by others. Zhangjiagang doesn't exist in isolation.