10 | DISCOVER SHANXI Friday, July 31, 2020 CHINA DAILY Facing death Day lily crops and vocational training with dignity encourage wealth to bloom in Shanxi ultimate aim By ERIC MILLER
Service industry courses and profitable agriculture turning around fortunes of onceimpoverished county of Tianzhen I sit by the bed, holding his withered hand while the old man tells stories in a thick accent I partly understand. He talks, I lis es engaged in the cultivation and ten. production of day lily products. I have come to China to work Revenue from the industry with people I cannot save; they reached 700 million yuan last are dying. year. Some are He said the government of Yunz s u r p r i s e d hou has released a series of prefer and happy ential policies to boost the sector’s to have a growth. These include a subsidy of s t r a n g e r By YUAN SHENGGAO 15,000 yuan for each hectare of day from afar lily crop; projects for improving the visit them. Ahead of her journey to Beijing, water supply, electricity and road For some, Eric Miller where she will work as a nanny, Cao facilities; and incentives in financ treatment PROVIDED TO Guohua — a resident of Tianzhen ing, insurance and technical m i g h t CHINA DAILY county in the northeast of Shanxi instruction services. extend their province — was interviewed by a In addition, the government has life for weeks or months, but group of journalists from China’s allocated a fund worth 400 million there is no cure. Medicine can major media outlets. yuan to support the development of ease pain but the hospice team The journalists were in Shanxi the day lily industry. can help patients face death. between July 1519, to report on how Wu Guofu is farmer in Jijiazhu I work with Yangquan You’ai Shanxi’s poverty alleviation has pro ang village in Yunzhou district. He Hospital in Shanxi province. It is gressed. told the reporters that he began to a private, notforprofit hospital Cao told the reporters that she grow day lily three years ago and founded by a local couple. received an offer from a home ser now has an annual income of more My wife, Li Ruoxia, is a native vice company in Beijing. It prom than 10,000 yuan from the output of Shanxi and she set up the hos ised a monthly salary of 6,000 yuan on his 0.13hectare farm. pice care program at the hospi ($856) to serve a family there. “I leased 3 hectares of farmland to tal. I have assisted with the “I am from an impoverished fami a local cooperative for day lily plant program and worked to improve ly in Sanshilipu village in Tianzhen ing and production, which adds care at the hospital. county. We used to earn about another 20,000 yuan to my family When it seems medicine has 10,000 yuan a year by farming,” Cao revenue,” Wu said. failed, we do not give up on said. Zhao Shuzhong (left), an official in Youyu county, tells journalists about the latest progress in poverty Li Zhifeng, head of the coopera patients while they live. These She said a change took place in reduction and environmental protection. ZHANG YUN / FOR CHINA DAILY tive, said it currently grows day lily final moments are precious. 2017, after she finished training in on farmland of about 50 hectares At first, people said the Chi home service at a local school. rented from local farmers. nese would not accept hospice. “I went to Beijing after the train level of emergency response to the training courses for locals to learn Shanxi, the journalists learned that “The harvest of the edible flowers But later the government ing course finished. Since then I outbreak. professional skills and find jobs in planting the edible herb of day lily is can last more than four months declared hospice work necessary have served three employers with Tianzhen is one of the leastdevel and outside Shanxi. a major source for local farmers to from May to September. We esti and important. annual pay between 50,000 and oped counties in Shanxi province. After conducting research in increase their revenue. The city’s mate the perhectare yield can Hospice is a practice around 60,000 yuan. Its farmland and other resources are some of China’s major cities, local Yunzhou district is a key area for amount to 150,000 yuan,” Li said. the world. We know how to do “The income helped my family limited and have been identified as officials found home service a prom growing the herb. He added that the cooperative the work. Westerners, too, were escape poverty immediately,” Cao major bottlenecks which hinder ising sector for female laborers from According to Pang Youjun, chief benefits nearly 200 households in reluctant to accept hospice care. said. local development and residents’ rural areas. Therefore, training for of the agriculture and rural affairs the village. It is hard to accept that death is Cao said she stayed at home in income growth. the industry is a main feature in bureau in Yunzhou, the planting “Farmers’ revenues include rental inevitable and give up on finding Tianzhen for about half a year due to To solve the problem, the local Tianzhen. The development strate area of the herb exceeded 10,000 of their land and payment for their a cure. the outbreak of COVID19. She government has cooperated with gy helped lift Tianzhen from its pov hectares in the district. There are work in the cooperative,” Li said. I have received a warm wel received the new offer of work in local businesses to establish a num erty status in February. 109 villages, 95 plantation cooper come in China. Many officials are Beijing after it recently lowered its ber of vocational schools. They offer In Datong city in northern atives and 15 processing enterpris Guo Yanjie contributed to this story. supportive of our work. Patients and families are grateful. Many family members come back to invention patents related to herbal volunteer with us. Unique products attract tea production. When I see a patient in pain, a Authorities in Shanxi expect to family struggling to make the develop herbal tea into a local pillar right decisions alone or a doctor interest at key trade fair industry and aim to promote the pushing for unneeded treat products throughout China and the ment, I wish the progress would rest of the world. be quicker. By YUAN SHENGGO These included recombinant According to the Shanxi Adminis We are working to make hospi humanoriginated collagen III pro tration for Market Regulation, there ces work within Chinese culture. During the 21st Qinghai Invest tein, a crucial product for postsur are more than 100 enterprises The goal is not to replace families ment and Trade Fair for Green gery recovery; broadsheet super engaged in the production of herbal in caring for the dying, but to Development held between July thin stainlesssteel foil that can be teas. More than 220 varieties and 92 support the families and help 2326 in Xining, the capital city of used in the fields of aerospace, elec brands are sold both domestically them to provide the best care Qinghai province, exhibits from tronics and petrochemicals; aug and overseas. they can, to be children for a Shanxi were among the most eye mented reality headgear; and bio Shanxi’s entrepreneurs also used dying parent. catching. based polyamide clothing. the Qinghai Investment and Trade We would like to provide According to Zhang Baomin, dep Also on show were videos and Fair for Green Development as a home care, but policies do not uty chief of the Shanxi Bureau for photos of Shanxi’s latest develop platform to expand the market support that yet. It would save Investment Promotion, more than ment, key industries and business presence in Qinghai for established money, be better for many fam 300 products were displayed at the environment. A woman representing a vinegar company in Shanxi talks to local Shanxi food products. ilies and fit well with Chinese province’s pavilion. Zheng Yanfeng, board chairman buyers during the Qinghai Investment and Trade Fair for Green Li Xinyi, general manager of Rao filial piety. “The Shanxi pavilion covered of the Shanxibased Songjiagou Development. CAI JINFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY tian Agriculture, one of Shanxi’s The Chinese medical system about 240 square meters, the larg Healthy Food Co, said it was the first leading vinegar producers, said his has developed and improved est display area for Shanxi in its time for Shanxi’s herbal tea prod company signed cooperative agree quickly. It is natural that a system 21year presence at the fair,” Zhang ucts to be exhibited at the show. vetch, chrysanthemum and menting, according to Zheng. ments with several dealers in Qing should first treat infectious dis said. The company mainly produces forsythia as main ingredients. However, unlike traditional teas hai. eases and then provide acute Shanxi’s exhibits included not herbal tea with sea buckthorn fruit The production of herbal teas in that use leaves as their ingredients, “The partners include some care. only its famed produce like mature as an ingredient. Sea buckthorn tea Shanxi province is similar to tradi many parts of herbs — including supermarket chains in Xining and The time has come to vinegar and herbal tea, but prod is only one kind of Shanxi’s herbal tional teamaking in the rest of the leaves, fruits and roots — can be other cities in Qinghai,” Li said. advance in other areas, includ ucts from its cuttingedge indus tea products, which also use a varie country. This includes techniques used to make herbal teas in Shanxi. ing hospice. Our hospital also tries. ty of herbs including goji, milk such as drying, baking and fer Currently, there are nearly 300 Guo Yanjie contributed to this story. works in preventive care. When foreign doctors visit our patients, it is painful for them to see patients who could have Oasis of calm with commanding view draws visitors from afar received treatment if diag nosed earlier. Lives and money could have been saved with tar By YUAN SHENGGAO geted cancer screenings. Peo ple are working on this; I hope Summer is the best season for Lis that progress can be made han Mountain Scenic Area, in Yuan quickly. qu county in the south of Shanxi Some wonder why I am in province, when it welcomes tourists Shanxi doing this work. My wife with variety of blossoming flowers. is from here and some Ameri Pang Yanzhi, a tourist from Jin cans came here and opened the cheng city, sees the mountain a per first hospitals more than 100 fect place to escape the summer years ago. But another reason is heat. The temperature there is more that the people of Shanxi matter. than 10 degrees Celsius lower than The people of Yangquan matter. its surrounding areas. Small places matter, not just the “This is my third time visiting the big cities. mountain. Every time I visit Lishan, Life needs to improve all over I see various sights and get a differ China. Big cities have better care ent experience,” Pang said. She add and more resources, so we have ed that she intended to visit the come to a small place to do what scenic areas again. Left: Shunwangping in Lishan Mountain Scenic Area is the highest mountaintop grassland in North China. Right: Mihouyuan Valley is the we can to make things a little bet Zhao Xuanjie is a highschool largest wild monkey habitat in North China. PHOTOS BY YAO PUJUN / FOR CHINA DAILY ter for the people here. graduate who has just finished his It is a privilege for me to be gaokao — or university entrance — welcomed to Shanxi, to You’ai exams. He came to Lishan with his grassland to get a panoramic view of meters above sea level, it is also the Shunwangping as 98 percent of it is ted in streams in the valley. Hospital, to the homes of people schoolmates to see the sunrise. faraway mountains, rivers and main peak of Lishan Mountain. forested. Because of its healthy environ here and to the sides of the sick “Seeing the sun jumping out from farmlands. Shunwangping is so named Another major attraction of the ment and the excellent air quality as and dying. I hope that I am wor the east, I felt a poetic nature to life. “You just feel the world is broad because legends have it that it was the area is the 10squarekilometer a result of its high forest and grass thy of the friendship of the Chi It gave me relief from the worries and there are unlimited possibilities place where Emperor Shun, a leader Mihouyuan Valley. The valley is coverage, the scenic area was listed nese people. and anxiety that accompanied me ahead,” Zhao said. of the Chinese nation some 3,000 said to be the largest wild monkey as a national recreational destina for years in preparing for the Covering more than 300 hectares, years ago, farmed and herded cattle. habitat in North China, with tion in June by the State’s tourism The writer is a member of the exams,” Zhao said. Shunwangping is the highest moun The secondhighest peak of the more than 1,000 such animals authorities. hospice care program at Yang He added that he loves standing taintop grassland in North China. area is the 2,143meter Huanggu discovered. Rare amphibians like quan You’ai Hospital in Yang on the Shunwangping mountaintop Standing at an altitude of 2,358 man. Its landscape is in contrast to giant salamanders were also spot Li Yali contributed to this story. quan city.
This page is sponsored by the Shanxi provincial government.