8 | Friday, May 21, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PATH TO GLORY
Poverty relief official goes extra mile raising villagers’ incomes
By ZHU LIXIN in Fuyang, Anhui So far, over 200 hectares, or [email protected] half the total agricultural land in the village, have been trans After four years in the former ferred to Niu Chaojun, a major ly povertystricken village of sweet potato producer. Chenxiaozhai, Liu Yuan says he Niu pays 600 yuan to the vil will probably leave but will lagers for the use of each mu and always cherish his experiences pays the village committee an there. additional 50 yuan per mu in In April 2017, the now 54year management fees. The commit old Liu was one of 753 officials tee then invests a certain dispatched to hundreds of key amount of that money in Niu’s villages in East China’s Anhui business and receives dividends, province to work on poverty which it distributes through a relief. fund as collective income for the Formerly attached to the pub villagers. licity department of the CPC’s In a previous interview with Fuyang city committee, Liu was China Daily last year, Niu said appointed first Party secretary that he earns a net income of Medical workers brief foreigners things to look out for after receiving COVID19 vaccinations in Shushan district of Hefei, Anhui province, — a Party member deployed by over 6 million yuan from the this month. HAN SUYUAN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE higher authorities usually to largescale plantation, even after oversee poverty relief work — of paying dozens of villagers to the village, which is in southern work the land. Linquan county, and he has been Liu said he also helped Niu working to meet his goal ever apply for all kinds of govern since. ment subsidies and persuaded Hefei one of foreigners’ With a population of over 2.3 the government to invest more million according to the hukou, in infrastructure to benefit Niu’s or household registration sys business and the villagers. tem, Linquan is China’s most As China is shifting the focus heavily populated county and of rural development from pov was one of its most impoverish erty relief to rural vitalization, favorite cities in China ed areas. Liu said largescale plantations “About half the 6,900 villagers such as this will have a brighter Academic atmosphere, opportunities Three Kingdoms period (222280). have migrated to cities for work,” future than the small, individual “My son also wanted to explore said Liu, adding that nearby plots of traditional household in hightech industries cited as reasons the inland areas of China more,” said Fuyang, which has a population farming. Many of my Chinese Cho, whose children both attended of over 10 million, is famous as a According to the provincial By ZHU LIXIN in Hefei ing my stay at USTC. It’s a good classmates started college in the nation. source of migrant workers. office of poverty relief, thanks to [email protected] opportunity to be at such a prestig “On our first visit to Hefei, I found Before arriving in Chenxiao the efforts of tens of thousands ious university,” he said. their own businesses it was not very developed but zhai, the new secretary was told of officials like Liu, Anhui was If people wonder which Chinese “Also, COVID19 control in China here, as the city’s ro thought it had great potential,” she that 112 villagers were classified able to lift 4.84 million people cities are the most attractive to for is safe and stable, but it’s horrible said, adding that later, her predic as povertystricken and would and 3,000 villages out of poverty eigners, the results of an annual poll outside,” he added. bust hightech indu tion turned out to be right. be treated as a priority. by the end of last year. by the State Administration of For Pursuing an academic career is stries have been offer Cho felt the rapidly developing According to China’s national Officials are also expected to eign Experts Affairs offer some valu also the main reason that has kept city offered many opportunities to definition of poverty at the time, help improve administration in able insight. Ammar Hawbani in Hefei for 16 ing them more and foreigners and persuaded more of the classification referred to the villages, another key goal of The administration started to years. more opportunities.” her relatives to come. anyone with an annual income the initiative and one that has release results after surveying Attracted by USTC’s renown, the “At the peak, I had 21 relatives liv of less than 2,855 yuan ($443). proved to be especially necessa thousands of expatriates living in Yemeni came to study information Ammar Hawbani, Yemeni ing here. Now, there are roughly “Poverty relief is not simply ry since the outbreak of the China over the course of several science and technology at the uni associate professor of wireless about increasing incomes, it’s network technology who earned 800 people from the South Korea in COVID19 pandemic. months in 2019. For two consecu versity in 2005, after he passed col his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD Hefei, and before the COVID19 also about creating a better envi With more than 30 years of tive years, Hefei, capital of East Chi lege entrance examinations in his degrees in Hefei, Anhui province pandemic there were many more,” ronment to ensure improve experience working with city na’s Anhui province, was listed home country with very high marks. she said, adding that most of her ments will last,” said Liu. authorities, Liu had a better among the Top 10 cities. Now an associate professor of countrymen work in the city’s high He said that he will never for understanding of the govern To spread the word about Hefei, wireless network technology, Haw period, she has been teaching Korean tech industries, such as the inte get the sight that greeted him ment’s epidemic prevention and Mohamed Noureldin from Egypt is bani said he enjoyed being at the at Hefei University. Now, she chairs a grated circuit sector. when he first arrived in Chenxi control measures and so was thinking about making some inter university so much that he chose to Hefeibased company dedicated to Impressed by how the history aozhai on April 28, 2017. able to help village officials prop active social media programs. stay for his master’s and PhD promoting cultural exchanges teacher had influenced her son, Infrastructure, like paved erly carry out the requirements. He first came to Hefei to work as a degrees in 2009. between the two countries. Cho has encouraged Chinese stu roads, was nearly nonexistent, “As a matter of fact, whenever language teacher 14 years ago. “Then He said that through his observa Cho and her husband, who have dents to go to South Korea. She has and the offices of those responsi we have difficulties now, the first I got to love the city and wanted to tions of students, many young Chi two sons, came to Hefei to fulfill helped more than 3,000 students ble for the parttime administra person who comes to mind is stay,” he said. nese people exhibit innovative and their elder son’s dream. from Anhui study in her country, tion of the village were located in Liu,” said Chen Ping, Party secre “I knew that the University of Sci productive traits. “When he was in the third year at and more than 1,000 later found an abandoned primary school. tary of Chenxiaozhai. ence and Technology of China, one “Many of my Chinese classmates middle school, his history teacher, job opportunities there. She has “The most important, and the In January last year, when of the best universities in the coun started their own businesses here, who had some experience in China, also brought even more students most difficult thing, was not tell Hubei provincial capital, try, is based here, so I decided to try as the city’s robust hightech indus suggested to students that they go from South Korea to China. ing the government that a vil Wuhan, was in lockdown and furthering my studies.” tries have been offering them more and live there and see the old coun In 2002, she became the first per lage needs money, it was people elsewhere in the country Seven years ago, he entered USTC and more opportunities,” said Haw try,” Cho said. son from her country to receive deciding how to spend the mon were staying home out of safety as a postgraduate. He remained a bani, who is 36 and the father of a The boy — a great fan of Chinese China’s Friendship Award, the ey on the right things,” he con concerns, the Lyuzhai township student until last year when he got boy born in Hefei. history who is able to name more highest honor given to foreigners tinued. hospital, which is responsible his PhD in public affairs administra Cho Sunghye, who is from the than 900 figures from the Chinese by the central government. In Since then, he has helped for the health of Chenxiaozhai tion and is now part of a visiting Republic of Korea, said: “We didn’t classic, the Romance of the Three 2006, she also became the first Chenxiaozhai secure millions of villagers, called Liu for face scholars program. expect that we would come to love Kingdoms — was inspired and South Korean citizen to gain per yuan from the government to masks. Noureldin believes that Hefei Hefei as much as we do.” wanted very much to follow his manent residency in China, and in improve infrastructure, and he He received the call in the offers a very good academic atmos A fluent Mandarin speaker, Cho teacher’s suggestion. 2010, she was listed as one of the says that there are now paved morning and worked hard to phere. “I want to do more research has been living in the city with her Due to its location, Hefei has con most influential women of the cen roads leading to every house get over 1,000 surgical masks. and apply what I have learned dur family for 25 years. For most of that nections to many stories from the tury in Hefei. hold. That afternoon, he took them to Liu found that he was respon Lyuzhai in person. He then vol sible for the wellbeing of many unteered to stay with the villag more than just those 112 villag ers, many of whom had recently Red Army history reflects success through hardship ers on the poverty list. The villag returned from all over the coun ers each had fields of about one try for the Spring Festival. mu, or 667 square meters, in “With me there, the villagers By ZHU LIXIN in Anqing, Anhui Red Army would bring their fami size, and he realized that people were less nervous and were [email protected] lies a better life,” said Wang Fang. would never be able to make a more willing to cooperate with In the 1980s, her father became a decent living from them. medical workers,” Liu said. Wang Fang stands on a square in postman, responsible for deliver With support from the local His work in Chenxiaozhai was Yaoluoping village of East China’s ing mail to villagers. “In the first government and through the expected to end in April 2020, Anhui province, telling visitors the years, he walked, then he got a bicy efforts of his colleagues in the but he extended his stay to the stories of her forefathers’ generations. cle in around 1995, and a motorbike village, Liu was able to introduce end of this month to oversee the Behind her is a memorial hall for in around 2000,” said Wang Fang. the practice of land transfer in transition. the 28th Corp of the Chinese Red The village now has 382 house 2018. “The delay gives me more Army, which was headquartered in holds with 1,828 residents, accord Land transfer is a form of col time to stay with the villagers the village in the 1930s. Several kilo ing to Wang Tianyou, its Party chief. lectivization, albeit on a smaller and my colleagues,” said Liu, meters away is a mountain, whose A former professional driver in scale. By bundling small plots adding that eventually he will shape is like a harrier, a species of the county town, he returned to the together, it is possible to create have to leave to take up new eagle, halfextending its wings. village in 2011, when there were an economy of scale. responsibilities. The village of Yaoluoping, which only three hostels. literally means ‘harrier lands on Now there are 67, providing the ground’, is named after the spe Wang Fang introduces the history of the Red Army in Anhui province 2,500 beds for tourists. With forest cially shaped mountain. to visitors in the village of Yaoluoping in Yuexi, Anhui. coverage of more than 95 percent “It’s like a harrier trying to take ZHU LIXIN / CHINA DAILY and a national nature reserve near off, while the pioneers of the village by, the village received roughly wished that the harrier could stay 150,000 visits last year and saw a to protect them,” said Wang, who of my grandfather, who died in the the family’s original dwelling in a tourism income of 12 million yuan. learned the story when she was a 1990s, saying ‘treasure your good nearby village to the more moun “Onefourth of the villagers are child. The woman, 40 years old and life, which comes through great tainous Yaoluoping. aged below 40. Most of the young mother of two boys, volunteered to hardship’,” she said. After the 28th Corp of the Chi adults migrated to cities for work, be a commentator at the memorial Her greatgrandfather, Wang nese Red Army was reformed in the though more and more of them are hall when it was opened to the pub Shirong, joined local farmers in a village in 1935, when troops moved returning,” said Wang Tianyou. He lic in 2008. rebellion against the thenruling westward for the Long March, said some of the villagers work for Her husband now runs a hostel, Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, Wang Fang’s grandfather, an ordi the hostels, others grow tea trees which provides catering and home because the extremely impoverished nary villager, joined a civil team to and vegetables. stays to tourists and saw a net villagers could not feed themselves take care of the wounded soldiers. “Cultivating about 50 hectares of income of more than 300,000 yuan and were regarded as nonhuman. “The villagers were willing to vegetables brought the villagers an Liu Yuan (center) inspects the wheat harvest in Chenxiaozhai ($46,600) last year. After Wang Shirong died in bat sacrifice their own lives to protect additional 8 million yuan last year,” village of Linquan, Anhui province, in May 2017. “I still remember the last words tle, his wife took the children from the soldiers because they know the said the Party chief. ZHU LIXIN / CHINA DAILY