In mid-to-early July, in Yanbian County, Panzhihua City, Sichuan Province, nearly 500 teachers and students from 66 universities at home and abroad, including Nanjing University and Hanyang University of South Korea, gathered here to participate in the "Common Prosperity First" special session of the 5th National Collegiate Rural Revitalization Creative Competition in Yanbian County, Panzhihua. They represent the wisdom and strength of nearly 500 teams, radiating nearly 10,000 young makers. When "youthfulness index" becomes a buzzword for the development of this mountainous county, the answer behind it is clear: young people are measuring the countryside with their footsteps and decoding common prosperity with innovation. This summer, tens of thousands of young people will integrate cloud collaboration with on-site practice to add youth power to Yanbian's common prosperity.

The "Common Prosperity First" special session of the National Collegiate Rural Revitalization Creative Competition in Yanbian County, Panzhihua, is co-sponsored by the China Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Foundation, the Academy for Rural Development, Zhejiang University, and the People's Government of Yanbian County. It consists of several key links including topic setting, collective research, second-round interviews, training camps, village-based creation, and finals, spanning the spring, summer, and autumn seasons. On July 2-3 and 12-13, two collective research activities of the competition were successfully held. Participating teachers and students walked into Yanbian, conducted on-site visits focusing on local industries, cultural inheritance, and rural revitalization practices, and contributed their wisdom and creativity to Yanbian's high-quality development from a youth perspective.

The research activities kicked off with intensive training, where teachers and students systematically learned about the competition rules, topic directions, research methods, and the general situation of Yanbian County, focusing on exploring paths for rural revitalization in industries, culture, ecology, and other fields. The training not only helped them clarify their topic selection ideas but also closely linked the competition topics with Yanbian's industrial scenarios.

More profound insights came from the fields. Teachers and students went to Xigeda Village, Lianhe Village, He'ai Village, Xinmin Village, Zhashi Village, Hongge Village, Sun Lake, Konjac Modern Industrial Park, and other sites. Through on-site visits and interviews, they gained an in-depth understanding of Yanbian's modern agricultural development, the construction of beautiful and harmonious villages, the creation of characteristic consumption clusters, and other business forms. How to more efficiently transform resource endowments into products, brands, and even market competitiveness became a hot topic of discussion among young students during the research.

Meanwhile, the "ZAO Fenghua" and "Four Towns and Five Villages" Common Prosperity Markets made a grand appearance in a lively atmosphere. Adhering to the concept of "Competition topics are scenarios; real objects are answers," Yanbian focused on displaying local characteristic industrial and cultural products such as mutton rice noodles, Huimin tribute rice, Guosheng tea, vanadium-titanium industry products, and Lisu ethnic group's intangible cultural heritage and cultural and creative products. This turned the competition topics from paper to reality, making them tangible, tasteable, and experienceable industrial landscapes, and also injected more inspiration into the teachers' and students' creations.

Young people also participated in the Torch Festival in Hongguo Yi Ethnic Township. The blazing bonfire reflected the enthusiastic faces of the young people. They joined hands with Yi young people to dance，and the atmosphere was extremely lively. The energetic young students added midsummer romance to the ancient Torch Festival.

"Reading about rural revitalization in books is one thing, but seeing these industrial sites in person is a completely different impact," said Nashan, a student from Xianda College of Economics and Humanities, Shanghai International Studies University. "Yanbian not only has unique natural and human resource endowments but also so many industrial stories that need to be told. This makes me feel that young people's creativity can really find its place here."

The competition adheres to the purpose of "Villages set topics; colleges answer them; real problems are solved with real efforts; outcomes are promoted for implementation." This collective research is not only an important part of the competition but also an important platform for Yanbian to build talent exchanges and the integration of industry, education, and research. A relevant person in charge of Yanbian County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said that relying on the opportunity of the competition, they will further explore a number of rural revitalization projects with innovation, feasibility, and promotion value, injecting new momentum into the construction of the common prosperity pilot zone. (Text/Ye Yuxuan, Photos/Secretariat of the National Collegiate Rural Revitalization Creative Competition)