Vlog: A grassroots official and his 'ace card'

Maoping Village of Anhua County in Yiyang City, central China’s Hunan Province was once a typical poverty-stricken area for its mountainous geography, which lacked arable land and transport infrastructure.

Xie Shouping, an ex-soldier, came to the village serving as head of the poverty alleviation work team in 2018.

Xie played his ace to fight against poverty, making full use of local environmental advantages to develop characteristic industries including hennery, bamboo chopsticks manufacturing and tea processing. Two years later, he led the village out of poverty.

Since 2015, China has appointed young and excellent Party members or former cadres from government departments, organizations and enterprises to help with poverty alleviation of villages -- part of the country’s efforts to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020. They are called “the first Party secretaries.”