8 | Tuesday, June 15, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION |CHINA CHINA DAILY DAILY PATH TO GLORY Drama tells arduous path of settlement Character’s prototype recalls efforts to found village against all odds By ZHAO YIMENG in Beijing not persuade villagers to move and HU DONGMEI in Yinchuan with him, so he picked corncobs and sorghum as he passed by Xie Xingchang said the char- farmland 4 kilometers from the acter in the popular drama Min- proposed site of Minning town- ning Town who was based on ship. “These crops proved the land him was true to life, and that the was capable of growing grain,” Xie actor played the role vividly. told Xinhua News Agency. “Only our efforts were more After organizing two meetings, arduous than the drama depict- 13 households agreed to move. It ed,” the 66-year-old said. took 12 hours by motorcycle to As one of the main protagonists reach Minning, which was 400 in the show, a young grassroots kilometers from their village in official named Ma Defu leads a Xiji. They slept on blankets the relocation program in southern first night and began building Ningxia Hui autonomous region houses the following day. to help villagers escape poverty by “A dust storm blew in suddenly moving them northward to a in the evening, just as we were more habitable place. about to eat dinner. We tried to Ma, played by Huang Xuan, a hold onto the ropes, but the storm famous actor from Gansu pro­- blew away our tents and nearly all vince, won many fans for his our belongings. A pot my wife Wang Lanhua (first from left in front) makes zongzi, a festive food for the Dragon Boat Festival, with fellow community residents in devotion to the villagers and his held onto and a quilt were all we Wuzhong, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, in June last year. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY struggles to make the relocation had left,” Xie said, adding that he happen. Showing a photo of him never forgot that first storm. posing with the actor, Xie said The storm also blew away the that to learn more about the real villagers’ confidence in their new Volunteer group helps people solve their problems life events that inspired the show, home, and some began to shout which took place around 20 years that they wanted to return to their By ZHAO YIMENG in Beijing founded the volunteer group to dent she often cares for. life due to family changes. ago, Huang visited him before former village. Xie took them to a and Hu Dongmei in Yinchuan keep serving. “Whether trivial or major, ignor- After Wang learned about their shooting. nearby farm and vineyard, trying Though the 3,000 households in ing a problem or failing to resolve situation, she insisted on taking to persuade them to stay. The Yulanhua Volunteer Group the community were not closely con- it means different things. I should care of them, frequently bringing Later, he dug a dozen under- in Wuzhong, Ningxia Hui autono- nected to her, she said she “still cared not break their trust,” she said, them food, washing their clothes, ground shelters with an excava- mous region, has helped thou- about their unsolved problems”. adding that sometimes residents and contacting the school to We tried to hold tor and used plastic sheets for sands of people in the city. In the first years after retirement, weren’t able to reach a consensus reduce their tuition fees. roofing to keep out wind and rain. This community service team Wang’s only income was a meager despite mediation. Now Shu has opened a plumb- onto the ropes, but The first houses were finished assists residents in resolving insurance fund. She set up an office Now, the community organizes ing repair shop and is also an the storm blew in the winter. Xie and the villag- problems, mediates disputes, and in her 70-square-meter house. “So activities throughout the week, important member of the volun- ers moved into the mud houses promotes policies for people of all many people came to ask for help, such as a flag-raising ceremony teer group. away our tents and and finally settled in. ethnic groups. Volunteers strive to and sometimes they couldn’t all every Monday to enhance patriotic Named as a National Moral nearly all our Without electricity, there was create a comfortable environment squeeze inside,” she said. awareness, and a concert with var- Model, Wang has inspired many little to do in the new settlement. for people from Han and Hui eth- Wang and her team often helped ious ethnic groups every Tuesday. people with her selfless deeds. So belongings. A pot Xie’s family of seven ate noodles nic groups living and working vulnerable people with difficulties. “Ningxia is our lovely home, it is far, Litong district has 60,000 reg- my wife held onto by candle light on Chinese New together in the community. She went to the homes of lonely united and socially stable,” Wang istered volunteers, nearly 90 per- and a quilt were all Year’s Eve. “My wife and I were The group, with nearly 500 reg- seniors to help them shower, cut said. cent of them women. sitting in the desert and counting istered volunteers, was founded in their nails and wash windows, and “Here, the Hui and the Han can- Wang has moved her office from we had left.” passing trains,” he recalled. 2005 by Wang Lanhua, who is now she bought food and medicine for not live without each other. As her house to a 1,400-square-meter As Party chief of what was then 70 years old, and is named after the elderly. President Xi Jinping said, people volunteer service center. Xie Xingchang, former Party chief of what was then Minning village, Xie opened a her. Wang has known 91-year-old He of all ethnic groups are tightly “The more volunteers there are, Minning village clinic by borrowing money from Before retiring as director of a Xiuying for 30 years. “It was not bound together like pomegranate the fewer difficulties residents will a credit cooperative. community in Litong district in easy for her as a widow to raise her seeds. Everyone respects each oth- face. I will keep enriching volun- In 1999, under the pairing initi- 2004, Wang was well-known for oldest son, who suffered from er, understands each other and teer activities,” Wang said. In 1997, Fujian officials visited ative, Fujian government lent vil- her concern for residents in the polio. It was sad when he died, and cares for each other.” Xiji county in southern Ningxia lagers 3,000 yuan each and sent neighborhood. She wasn’t able to she was too ill to leave the house,” Shu Hongyong and his younger Contact the writers at province and proposed that the experts to teach them how to grow get used to retirement, so she Wang said, talking about the resi- brother, both Han, had a difficult [email protected] two regions cooperate to relocate button mushrooms. Xie also set villagers from the deep moun- up two mushroom greenhouses. tains. Having graduated from a The crop brought in a great nursing school, Xie was more deal of money, but the market New tool, methods turn Ningxia deserts green educated than others and recog- became saturated. nized the opportunity to turn “The villagers weren’t able to around their impoverished lives. repay their loans, so Fujian offi- By ZHAO YIMENG in Beijing He formed a “I was excited by the news and cials bought them for more than and Hu Dongmei in Yinchuan 300-strong was thinking about persuading market price, stored them in a sand control the villagers to move out,” Xie freezer and tried to export them According to Tang Ximing, depu- team, training said, adding that a life beyond to other places,” Xie told local ty head of the Zhongwei Sand Con- them in affores- the mountains offered hope. news portal Nxnews. trol Forestry Center, Zhongwei city tation knowl- But the designated relocation He began to grow goji berries in the Ningxia Hui autonomous edge and skills. site — an empty stretch of the and grapes, exploring other region has made great progress in “Some farmers Gobi Desert — did not appeal to potential crops. Now, villagers its battle against desertification, in Zhongwei him. There was nothing living in grow a number of different cash with the total sand-controlled area Tang Ximing were lifted out the place that would later be crops, undergo training, leave the reaching 100,000 hectares this year. of poverty by named Minning township. village for work and get involved “Now, sand-fixing tree species participating in In July 1997, the groundbreak- in entrepreneurship, he said. like wormwood are growing in desert control work in Ningxia ing ceremony held in the desert in Since retiring as village Party straw checkerboards in the south- and elsewhere,” he said. Yongning county near Yinchuan, chief this year, Xie volunteers as eastern Tengger Desert,” Tang said. “A couple that used to live in pov- in northern Ningxia, changed a guide at the Minning history The 55-year-old man has devoted erty now earns 100,000 yuan Xie’s view of the proposal. museum. “When I brought vil- 30 years to fighting desertification ($15,600) a year through sand con- “Fujian would help us build our lagers to the Gobi Desert to start in Zhongwei and has helped devel- Villagers use Tang Ximing’s method to control the expansion of trol and have bought a building in new village, not only by allocating businesses,” he tells visitors, “I op an efficient method for fixing the Tengger Desert with grass grids in the Ningxia Hui autono- downtown Zhongwei through their funds, but by sending technicians basically thought prospects were sand in place, which has increased mous region.