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Home , Guizhou, Shen Yiqin, Shiqian County, Tongren, Zhenfeng County

18 | Monday, September 30, 2019 DAILY | 19

GUIZHOU’S SCENERY, ETHNIC DIVERSITY A DRAW FOR VISITORS

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Guizhou province sees the tea industry as a pillar for poverty alleviation and ecological development. Farmland stretches across picturesque scenery in city, Guizhou. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Poverty-Stricken Population outhwest China’s Guizhou province Local villagers have benefited from recent of about 663 mu, or 44.2 hectares, with a total con- Mountainous landscape, Unit: million people attracts visitors with its untouched struction area of about 475,200 square meters and Poverty alleviation scenery, ethnic diversity and kind- social welfare measures, Li Xin reports. total investment of 2.03 billion ($284.41 mil- S hearted people, rooted in the region’s lion). It’s a cross-regional relocation site where work boosts economic, natural resources make 1.55 cultural legacies and traditions formed fi rst began in 2017 and 2018. In 2017, all structures 9.23 2018 over thousands of years. in the garden were medium and high-rise buildings, 18.4 2012 Yaoshang Ethnic Culture Village, also known as before 16 new, 18-story buildings were built. region a paradise for tea 1978 Shiqian Gelao First Village, is one such charming Last year all of the complex’s buildings were multi- social development Urbanization Rate destination in the province. Its picturesque land- storey, and today it is home to 18,379 people from Guizhou is a pioneer in Unit: % scapes, rich historical heritage, 90 percent forest 4,232 households from Sinan, Yinjiang and Shiqian. promoting progress in By , By LI XIN unique ecological resources created coverage as well as remarkable poverty alleviation “My husband died of illness and I was unable to education in both urban [email protected] Green Tea. Tongren has a eff orts in recent years are among tourist attractions. survive alone with four children,” said Pan Xueqin, and rural areas. Authorities from Guizhou in see tradition of tea-drinking since ancient 47.52 The village is defi ned not just by its view but also a local resident of the Wanshan . In Septem- poverty alleviation as a direct way of serving the people. 34.96 2018 Farmers in Guizhou province are times. “The tea here grows quite long, 12.06 its local customs such as the “saying spring” and the ber 2018, she moved to Wangjia community and is The previous provincial Party committees and gov- 2011 particularly happy with the arrival of so we only take one bud and one leaf 7.5 Gelao puppet show. now an embroidery worker there. “Our government ernments led local offi cials and residents to promote 1978 the harvest festival this year. at a time when picking tea leaves. You 1949 More than 600 years ago, after the people sur- asked me to move here. The government gave me a economic and social development. In the past year, crops of tea, pep- can’t pinch the tea leaves with your named Deng in province moved to this job and it was convenient for my children to go to The province’s urban and rural landscapes have per, chestnut rose and dragon fruit in fi ngernails. Given the fact that we are Total Grain Yield village, they set up kilns to make pots, cans, urns, school. My life became signifi cantly better.” changed radically since the founding of the People’s Guizhou all ranked fi rst by volume in surrounded by mountains with low Unit: million metric tons and other utensils, from where the name Yaoshang Amenities in the area have been improved, and Republic of China in 1949. the country, while the value the prov- temperatures and high humidity, the is derived. the “joint office, employment security, balanced The province saw its GDP reach 1.48 trillion yuan ince’s agriculture industry created for tea tastes very good”, said You Hui, a “Before 2003, Yaoshang village was poor. There education, public service and grassroots Party build- ($208.7 billion) and a per capita GDP hit 41,244 yuan related industries ranked among the local resident. 10.6 were 50 or 60 singletons over the age of 30, with a ing” principle is implemented to ensure the move take a photo on a in 2018, which were 2,377 and 937 times the respective 6.43 top nationwide. in the city is another 2018 per capita income of less than 700 yuan ($98.22). In is seamless for all involved. There is a convenient country road in Guizhou. fi gures in 1949. 2.97 Guizhou, with an often unforgiving region that has been committed to the 1978 the morning, villagers carried over 50 kilograms of service center, micro-factory industrial park, school, The per capita dispos- 1949 terrain, has achieved a historic break- aim of “agricultural clustering manage- charcoal and walked more than fi ve kilometers of health service station, supermarket and new era able income of urban and through in agriculture. ment, tea gardens as scenic spots as Total Retail Sales of mountain road to nearby county. Fifty kilograms of civilization practice center, all to help the people who rural residents was 31,592 Local authorities The province has experienced a rural well as the integration of agriculture Consumer Goods in Rural Areas charcoal would sell for 40 or 50 yuan,” said Zuo Yan, have been relocated. yuan and 9,716 yuan industrial revolution, which has added and tourism”. Unit: billion yuan a local villager. To achieve the next stages of the development of respectively last year, 336 also centered environmentally friendly momentum The county plans tea gardens at high Before the development of the village’s tourism Party organization, public services, social security, times and 201 times the on the supply- to the high-speed and high-quality locations, grows tea of high quality, and industry, the region was remote and hard to get The A-mei Qituo town is the largest relocation and resettlement site of Qinglong county, Southwest China’s Guizhou province. employment, training, industry and pair support, a tallies in 1949. development of its economy. promotes the industry with signifi cant 76.55 to — it was one of the poorest and most isolated 6,000-sq-m micro-factory industrial park has been Highway mileage in side reform 33.89 2017 In 2018, 1.48 million people in Gui- investment. It makes use of classic tea 0.64 areas in China. built at Wangjia Garden. It has helped encourage the province was 196,900 2011 and advanced, 0.09 zhou left poverty, lowering the poverty gardens to drive development and 1978 Zuo said that in the past, parents would tell Locals consider premna microphylla a fairy leaf, tourism infrastructure has been greatly improved. ered as a No 1 project and one of the “four tough labor-intensive enterprises to set up micro-factories A doctor carries out health kilometers in 2018, rate to 4.3 percent, and 14 poor coun- transform old tea gardens. 1949 their children, “If you don’t behave, I’ll send you to which inspired the name of the delicacy. Fairy tofu Now, most villagers run some form of agritain- battles” to win the fi ght against poverty. providing jobs for relocated people nearby, and to checks for villagers in 101 times that in 1949. environmentally- ties were lifted out of poverty. At the same time, new tea is widely Yaoshang.” The situation has been changed today, is made by rubbing the plant, adding its juice to the ment business, a combination of agriculture and Tongren city, located in the , is achieve a mutually benefi cial environment for both Guizhou. Expressway mileage was friendly and Relying on its abundant resources, planted in suitable places, which gives Per Capita Disposable Income to encourage children, parents will say, “If you study plant ash for fi ve minutes to form tofu, before stir- entertainment. an area of extreme poverty. It is a big city with a large employment and family care. 6,453 km and high-speed Tongren city in Guizhou province is new life to older tea gardens. hard, I will take you to Yaoshang at the weekend”. ring in your favorite ingredients. Yaoshang people have been able to make great population, where only through ecological migration railway mileage reached efficient of Urban Residents making significant achievements in By the end of 2018, the area of tea These two sentences describing Yaoshang’s past To address poverty in the region, the county’s Party strides in poverty alleviation through tourism, and can locals begin to enjoy better, more fulfi lling lives. 1,262 km last year. Unit: yuan development.’’ poverty alleviation by cultivating dis- gardens in Shiqian reached 388,000 and present have become the epitome of Yaoshang committee and government since 2003 have decided the village has become a model for poverty allevia- is emblematic of the govern- Scan it! Local authorities have Sun Zhigang, Party tinctive industries, local offi cials said. mu, or 25,840 hectares, of which Shiq- people’s happy new life. Snacks are an important to prioritize tourism. Adopting the principles of tion in Shiqian county. Poverty alleviation through ment’s relocation policy. The district has consistently Read and know more about prioritized poverty alle- secretary of Guizhou, This year, the city has been focusing ian Moss Tea accounted for 60 percent. part of village culture, especially fairy tofu, which “government guidance, department cooperation, relocation is a policy developed by the CPC Central promoted the transformation of urban development viation and focused on 31,592 Guizhou online. and Shen Yiqin, on the supply-side structural reform in There were more than 130 tea process- 270 is made from premna microphylla and plant ash. bundling funds and mass participation”, Yaoshang’s Committee and the State Council, which is consid- in places like Wangjia Garden, which covers an area infrastructure and con- 2018 governor of Guizhou 236 the agriculture sector to revitalize its ing enterprises and 43 professional tea 1978 struction in rural areas rural economy. cooperatives, including six provincial- 1962 by developing industries A poverty-stricken area in the Wul- leading enterprises and 17 municipal Guizhou provides a that included the improvement of education, healthcare ing Mountains, Tongren has a diverse ones. The number of people working in three-year free training and housing. terrain with mountains accounting for the tea industry reached 150,000, and program to boost vocational They have built pitch and cement roads extending 67.8 percent of its total area. the industrial scale ranked among the The government education. about 80,000 km in rural areas, facilitating 12 million Tongren has great potential to devel- largest in Guizhou province. people living along the roads. op an effi cient agricultural industry, Tongren is also exploring new gave me a job and They restructured local agriculture, reduced farming with huge variations in altitude, bio- approaches to lifting farmers out of it was convenient of ineffi cient crops such as corn and developed effi cient logical diversity, clement weather and poverty by helping poor households industries such as vegetables, tea and edible fungus. for my children fertile land. and encouraging farmers to play a role Local authorities The low-income population in the province was The city has developed a series of in the industrial chain of high-quality to go to school. reduced from 6.23 million in 2015 to 1.55 million in green agricultural products, such as green agricultural products. have prioritized 2018. My life became Fanjingshan delicacies, which have Statistics show by the end of 2018, poverty alleviation Local authorities also centered on the supply-side created a number of products and local the total area of tea plantations in significantly reform and advanced, environmentally friendly and brands such as Fanjingshan Green Tea, Guizhou was 5,013 square kilometers, and focused on effi cient development. better.’’ Shiqian Moss Tea and Tongren Pearl ranking first in the country for six infrastructure Authorities have promoted a project aiming to trans- Peanut. years. Pan Xueqin, a local form about 1,000 industrial companies and attract Fanjingshan, listed as a UNESCO The total output of tea reached 3.62 resident of Wanshan From left: Villagers in poverty-stricken areas move to new houses in , Guizhou province. An advanced roads network snakes through Wengxi town, Sinan county. Chestnut rose farming is a leading industry in promoting rural and construction about 1,000 companies to develop in Guizhou. World Heritage site, has increased million metric tons for a total produc- district industrial revolution in Guizhou. in rural areas The province also implemented the big data strategy Tongren’s popularity and reputation. tion value of 39.4 billion yuan. and promoted development of the national big data Fanjingshan Green Tea ranked 31st Guizhou has helped 152,000 impov- by developing comprehensive pilot zone. in brand value in China’s tea industry erished people through the tea indus- 1.48 industries that It resolved debt risks and maintained a steady and in 2018, with a brand value of 1.98 bil- try, of whom 89,000 people have been Reporter’s log: An alternative vision of village life thousands of miles from home continuous momentum for economic development. lion yuan ($277.48 million). Tongren’s pulled out of poverty behind. trillion yuan included the Forest coverage rate in the province increased to 57 By EOGHAN NORRIS MCNEILL bus to make it from the runway. The single terminal, among Ireland’s most disadvantaged and isolated, outside on the main drag in the sun. Small shops sell- percent in 2018 and good air quality days reached 98.2 GDP of Guizhou last year improvement [email protected] a timeworn structure not two minutes’ walk from is forgotten by the places in Ireland where power is ing sweets and cigarettes and clothes, the essentials, percent on average in Guizhou’s counties. where the plane landed, was fl anked by mountains concentrated and decisions are made. The football lined the dusty street. of education, Local offi cials put employment in a prominent place I left for Guizhou province at the start of and looked like it’d been left there by mistake. But team gives Donegal people the chance to let the rest They were yet to reopen after the village’s lunch healthcare and and launched a three-year action plan training farmers 196,900 August thinking about a Gaelic football match. It’s it did feature a single baggage carousel, something of the country know it’s still there. After this loss, they break. Shopkeepers sat outside on straw chairs, chat- housing.’’ from 2019-21. kilometers one of Ireland’s national sports, a mixture of rugby we’re yet to get in Donegal. would be forgotten again. ting with their neighbors. In the guesthouse behind Last year saw the creation of 780,000 jobs in urban and association football played at home and in Irish After checking into a hotel half-an-hour from the The next day, I visited the village of Yaoshang. The me, groups of men and women formed around tables Sun Zhigang, Party areas. They also realized remote diagnosis and treat- highway mileage in emigrant communities. airport, I went for dinner with China Daily report- enclave is home to about 2,500, a little more than my where food was brought and eaten. secretary of Guizhou, and ment in cities, counties and even townships, making Guizhou last year The county I’m from, Donegal on Ireland’s north- ers and members of the local Party committee. I hometown, sunken in the middle of Guizhou’s undu- Waiters took plates back to the kitchen but the Shen Yiqin, governor of it easier for people in mountainous areas to access west coast, was playing Mayo in a de facto All-Ire- discovered I’m a tofu fan, something that for what- lating mountains. As one of China’s most remote groups sat on, talking with each other as the day Guizhou medical services. 57 land quarterfi nal that day. Before booking fl ights, ever reason I’d never tried back home. I enjoyed its villages, Yaoshang was once a punchline for parents ambled. A horse-drawn cart passed by, the only traf- I checked to see I’d be in Guizhou in time to watch fundamental absurdity. Though it’s a jelly, it’s more elsewhere in the province: Behave, or I’ll send you fi c I saw. Across the street, children and their elders Sun Zhigang is Party secretary of Guizhou and Shen percent it online and made sure my streaming subscription meat substitute than dessert. It went particularly well to Yaoshang. gathered for a Gelao puppet show, an ethnic tradition Yiqin is governor of Guizhou. was up to date. with the self-made soy sauce-ginger-lime-and-chilli I arrived at a guesthouse in the village for lunch. villagers have passed down over the course of their forest coverage rate After a few hours’ fl ight, I landed in a rural airport dip that was to become a staple of my trip. The scenery in the village of Yaoshang, After making and eating fairy tofu, a local variation 600-year history. It was a community where people The page is sponsored by the Guizhou provincial A farmer picks tea leaves at a plantation in Guizhou. of Guizhou in 2018 that reminded me of Donegal’s. No need for a shuttle Donegal lost the game. The county, considered Guizhou province. made from the leaves of a vervain family plant, I sat weren’t forgetting. government.