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Since 2005, the Chinese government has encouraged university graduates to work in villages. The aim is to improve rural administration and create more jobs. It's brought fresh ideas and enthusiasm to many villages and thousands of college graduates have settled into their careers in these rural areas.

Fu Honglei, also called Xiao Fu, is one of a handful of college graduates working as village officials. At a regular meeting held by the village committee of Song Cun in Luoyang, Central Henan province, Xiao Fu is discussing a new preferential subsidy policy for local famers with other heads of the committee.

His assigned job was initially confined to paperwork and assistance. But he has been trying to do more for the village.

Xiao Fu says he bikes to the nearby county every week, in hopes of getting more information on job opportunities for those unemployed in the village. He points to printed job descriptions put up on the wall outside the village committee.

"These job descriptions are what I have collected on the street when I bike through the county. I wrote down job descriptions wherever I saw them in restaurants, shops and factories, brought them back and put up here. Villagers who have lost jobs as migrant workers under the economic downturn can apply for their interested vacancy. Take this one for example, I learned from a restaurant that they need a service staff, and would pay about 500 RMB as wage per month. I put up this information as well as the employer's requirements here. Moreover, I enclosed the most convenient transportation option, say, which bus can be taken to the restaurant."

Xiao Fu has been working in this village for months. He gradually realized a college-graduate village official's job is not only to fit into rural life, but also to bring about changes in rural areas.

"People are not very informative in village. They even had no idea which hospital they should go to when they fell ill. Therefore, we often search for information for them, as we are able to use the Internet. These villagers seldom even read the newspaper."

When looking for more job vacancies for those unemployed, he has got some ideas in mind to help villagers out.

"For the next step, I am about to help our villagers start their own business. We've already had several successful cases of breeding livestock and poultry in our village. But you know, for some villagers, they wouldn't think of that unless someone suggested it."