At first glance, Nanjie looks much like the utopian neighbourhood that China's communist founders once dreamed of - all properties and enterprises are collectively owned, its residents enjoy free welfare benefits, there are jobs for life and its streets are said to be free of crime and violence.
Even neighbours of this central Henan township administered by Zhengzhou city wish they were born in this so-called last bastion of Maoism. Waiting for business near Nanjie's landmark square, Jie Xinying, a motorcycle taxi driver from a nearby village, admired his neighbours' good fortune.
'Our village officials have embezzled our land to build villas and we have been petitioning for compensation, but to no avail. Such things wouldn't happen in Nanjie. Everything is great there - you have a free house and you don't pay for many things you need. People wish they were Nanjie people,' he said.
But while the collective approach has been a bulwark against the uncertainty and corruption felt in other parts of the country, there is trouble in the workers' paradise.
A giant white marble statue of Mao Zedong takes centre stage in Nanjie's main square, while murals of a supporting cast of fellow communists - Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin - look on. It is a rare scene in today's China after nearly three decades of capitalism.
Nanjie has been upgraded to a township and celebrated as the wealthiest village in the central province. Its 3,180 residents each earn no more than 250 yuan a month but have access to nearly 7,000 yuan in annual welfare benefits, such as health care, education and food rations.