Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Farmers from a village in southwest China literally turned a multimillion dollar windfall into a wall of cash . This week , residents of Jianshe village in Sichuan Province took delivery of blocks of money worth 13 million yuan ( $ 2.1 million ) in year-end bonuses they had earned from a rural co-operative scheme . Residents had invested in farmland and small-scale hydropower plants since 2010 . Around 340 out of 483 households are shareholders in the small village , which has a population of less than 2,000 people . Before they could distribute their earnings to individual residents ahead of Chinese New Year , they had the problem of where to store -- and guard -- it . Chief villager , Jin Hongyuan , told local media he moved the money inside the village committee office after transporting it from the bank on Monday . To keep the money safe , he appointed three villagers to sleep on the banknotes inside the office , while four others stood guard outside . `` We used 800,000 yuan as a mattress , 420,000 yuan as pillows , and put the others aside , '' Jin told the West China Metropolis Daily . The following day , the banknotes were moved into the village square and stacked to form a seven-foot long wall and create a $ 2 million photo opportunity . Many villagers said they had never seen so much money before . Villager Jin Ou , who collected the most dividends from his investments , was delighted to finally get his hands on 300,000 yuan ( $ 49,000 ) in cash . `` It 's so cold , and I 've been counting ( cash ) for the whole day , my fingers are all numb , '' he told reporters . The story was an immediate hit with China 's legions of Internet users . One netizen , known as `` xiaomili_xiaomi '' took to Weibo , a Twitter-like service , to post : `` Let 's be friends , rich villagers ! '' Others asked if they could join in on the investment bonanza and become a member of the rural co-operative . Unfortunately , the scheme only allows investors who are members of Jianshe village . The only way to join is by marrying into the families , said Jin . CNN 's intern April Ma contributed to this report .
Villagers in China 's Sichuan province build a $ 2.1 M ` ` " wall '' out of year - end bonuses . They run a rural co - operative that invests in irrigation and power generation . The wall was heavily guarded before being distributing in China for Chinese New Year . Guard : ` ` It was so uncomfortable sleeping on so much money ''