Honors for the poverty fighters of Hangzhou
President Xi Jinping said on February 25 that China had secured a “complete victory” in its fight against poverty.
A gathering in Beijing honored the country’s model poverty fighters, including 10 people and six organizations from Hangzhou, for their contributions to poverty alleviation.
Ever since the central government initiated the “pairing assistance” program in the 1990s to help poverty-stricken regions, Hangzhou has been supporting the development of 11 cities and 47 counties across eight provinces.
The city has prioritized the economy, education and health care in these areas. It has allocated government officials, talent and industrial resources with local governments to improve people’s wellbeing and raise living standards.
Hangzhou cooperates with Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province to build an agricultural industrial park, helping local people raise their income.
Wang Qiang, director of the vocational training department at Hangzhou First Technician College, was sent to Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in Hubei Province in 2018. He was awarded the title of the “Model Poverty Fighter” in Beijing on February 25.
“I found the biggest difficulty in poverty reduction was to change local people’s minds about economic development,” he told Shanghai Daily.
Wang and his team organized a learning-training project with over 90 village leaders across Enshi sent to Hangzhou’s villages, learning about modern administration and economic development for a year.
Hangzhou sent 208 skilled technicians to give training classes in Enshi to enhance people’s occupational skills. Within three years, about 14,815 local residents have been trained.
“Some impoverished people cannot afford tuition in colleges. To change that situation, we have selected some local students, sending them to colleges in Hangzhou by waiving their tuition,” said Wang. “So far, about 600 students have accepted higher education in Hangzhou for free.”
Enshi features a vast karst landform, and its eight counties are situated in mountains without convenient transport, which makes economic development difficult.
Wang Qiang, director of the vocational training department at Hangzhou First Technician College, inspects a kiwi plantation in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. He was awarded the title of the “Model Poverty Fighter.”
“The underground drainage system with sinkholes and caves limits surface water. Though rainfall may be adequate, rainwater quickly moves through the crevices into the deep ground,” said Wang. “Prior to developing the economy, we should provide residents with access to drinking water.”
In a bid to solve the water problem, Hangzhou has coordinated with local authorities to build water treatment plants and reservoirs.
“The karst landform also causes difficulties in constructing industrial facilities. Thus, we transfer the economic focus to agriculture,” Wang said. “We should make the best use of natural resources and upgrade the agricultural industrial chain.”
Enshi boasts undulating tea fields. However, the added value of local tea industry was much lower than its counterparts in Hangzhou due to inadequate market promotion and separated cultivation.
“We have invited Hangzhou professionals to advertise tea and attracted companies to invest in tea plantations,” said Wang. “In addition, we encourage farmers to grow organic fruit and medical herbs. Today, they are all pillar agricultural commodities in Enshi.”
So far, Hangzhou has completed 950 projects in Enshi, providing financial assistance worth 1.2 billion yuan (US$186 million), helping some 400,000 people.
Shen Xiang (center), named as the “Model Poverty Fighter,” talks with his colleagues about the local produce. He was assigned to alleviate poverty in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province in 2018.
Shen Xiang was sent to Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province in 2018 and was appointed as vice director. He has visited about 200 poverty-stricken towns and 400 villagers to alleviate poverty.
He was named as the “Model Poverty Fighter,” and his team was awarded the “Model Poverty Fighter Team” in Beijing.
“Public employment, health care and education are the main issues we must solve in poverty reduction,” said Shen.
Hangzhou government has spent 246 million yuan building 41 schools and 336 village clinics in Qiandongnan Prefecture. Over the past three years, 2.1 billion yuan of financial assistance and 610 million yuan of social donations from Hangzhou have been allocated to this area.
To enhance employment, Shen and his team drew investment from Zhejiang Province, and Zhejiang enterprises have invested 12.6 billion yuan and launched 770 projects there, helping more than 227,000 people.
During the COVID-19 outbreak last year, a large number of migrant workers failed to return to Hangzhou because of the cancellation of long-distance public transport, which impacted the resumption of factory production in the city.
Shen coordinated with Hangzhou government to charter high-speed trains, coaches and flights from Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, to Hangzhou, transporting 6,229 workers for free.
To help local farmers recover from the pandemic, Shen and his team have assisted local farmers in selling their products via livestreams. They also set up physical sales channels and e-commerce outlets in collaboration with retailers and online platforms in Hangzhou.
Qiandongnan boasts a rich natural and cultural heritage. However, due to a lack of market promotion, few tourists have visited the area.
Shen and the team organized tourism promotions in Zhejiang Province to encourage local companies to host activities in Qiandongnan Prefecture, and as a result, tourist numbers from Zhejiang Province skyrocketed to over 1.5 million last year.
