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China Focus: Concerted efforts in vanquishing poverty in SW China mountains

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E-mail Xinhua, September 29, 2020

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BEIJING, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- "If it is impossible to get rid of the rugged terrain and water scarcity in Wumeng Mountains, then we would relocate people from the inhospitable area," said Yang Yalin, Communist Party chief of Zhaotong City in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Zhaotong, a city with the largest share of poverty-stricken residents across the country, is located in the Wumeng Mountains, stretching about 250 km between the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan.

However, the final sprint to win the uphill battle against poverty has been underway in the region.

FINAL PUSH

The Qi Shiqing family used to live off the land and had a fairly difficult life in raising their six kids with an annual income of just 4,000 yuan (about 586.4 U.S. dollars).

After moving to the Jing'an District, a large-scale resettlement area in Zhaotong, in March, the couple rented a small stall selling baked potatoes and earning more than 50 yuan a day. Their elder child works in the city and contributes to the family income.

Many new buildings have come up in the district, with sufficient supporting infrastructure and some new shops for rent.

An employment center has been set up to help the relocated residents find jobs in the trying time. "COVID-19 struck after the villagers just moved to the new place, so we absolutely must not relax," said Zhou Xiang, the district's interim official of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

In recent years, more than 360,000 poor people in Zhaotong have been relocated from the mountains.

In a deeply impoverished area in the city of Bijie, Guizhou Province, information of each destitute household, such as the causes of their problems, income status and the person responsible for the family's poverty alleviation works, are all recorded.

A total of 9.3 million impoverished people nationwide, equivalent to the population of a medium-sized country, have moved into their new houses, shaking off poverty. With 9.2 million of them lifted out of poverty through relocation, the focus of the effort has shifted from project construction to follow-up support for the resettled people.

The roadways around the mountainous area have been gradually renovated to tarmac or cement roads, making it easier to access the outside.

According to Wu Bin, a 35-year-old villager, before 2017, it took him about five to six hours to reach the county seat 90 km away. But, now he can get there in just over two hours.

"The fight against poverty has entered a crucial stage for securing the ultimate victory. We must be confident and dedicated to work, without allowing even the slightest letup," Yang said.

PARTY'S STRENGTH

Trekking through a winding road full of weeds and shrub at an altitude of 2,100 meters, 37-year-old Li Tianyuan, a village Party secretary in Guizhou, together with around 80 other Party officials, was busy helping villagers with their relocation.

In just 15 days, all residents from 32 households moved from the mountains.

There are no more shabby, thatched houses in the area. Mulberry trees have been planted on the land that used to be marginal farmland, becoming a new source of income for the relocated people.

Zhang Ning, a county government official in Bijie, visited the village in July, where he once worked as the first secretary of the CPC village committee. He met with local families and discussed how to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation.

CPC members can be seen everywhere in the poverty-stricken area.

A total of 255,000 work teams were sent to poor villages to boost poverty alleviation efforts across the country. More than 2.9 million officials were appointed as first secretaries of CPC village committees and village-stationed officials, living and working in villages.

A new type of primary-level CPC organization, set up for poverty alleviation, is developing vigorously. In another resettlement area in Zhaotong, the 19 buildings are divided into six matrices, with six Party branch secretaries selected from the Party members among the relocated residents.

These Party branches also guide resettled residents to travel to seek employment elsewhere with the help of local employment stations. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, they set up epidemic control teams.

The key to the success of poverty alleviation relies on the Party's organizational leadership. The hardships must be conquered no matter how difficult they are, Yang said.

CONCERTED EFFORTS

"We invited China State Construction Engineering Corporation to undertake the Jing'an project," Yang said.

The area of Wumeng Mountains has become a "testing ground" for poverty alleviation efforts across the country, bustling with officials from various departments of the central government and provincial-level governments, as well as state-owned enterprises.

The United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee has provided pairing assistance to the city of Bijie. Since 1988, Bijie has formulated 46 poverty alleviation plans, coordinated more than 900 projects, and obtained funds of over 120 billion yuan.

Over the past 30 years, the city has lifted an accumulated 6.3 million people out of poverty.

A public hospital at the county of Zhenxiong has been paired up with West China Hospital of Sichuan University, making it one of the few comprehensive Grade-3 hospitals at the county level in Yunnan. "Green corridors" are also available for poor patients in the hospital.

A scruffy tile-roofed middle school in Weining County, Guizhou Province, has gone through a complete transformation. It now has a brand-new football field as well as basketball and badminton courts.

Two coaches were sent to the school by the Guizhou Hengfeng Football Club. "Playing football can make students more outgoing and confident," said coach Zheng Ping.

From the improvement of material life to spiritual enrichment, poverty eradication has always been aimed at bringing changes to people's lives, Yang said.

More than 700 million Chinese people shook off poverty over the past 30 years since the launch of reform and opening up. The remaining 5 million will be lifted out of poverty by this year.

"It is my privilege to join hands with local residents in the battle against poverty, which will go down in human history," Zhang said. Enditem