18 Advertorial Friday, March 9, 2018 CHINA DAILY Victories scored in province’s crucial fight against poverty By YUAN SHENGGAO Rural Compulsory Students. Since 2012, a total of 50 mil- The mountainous South- lion yuan has been invested to west China province of Gui- build 44 new school canteens zhou is considered by many and to reconstruct old ones. to be the main battleground In 2013, the county was in China’s crucial fight against designated as a model by the poverty — but top officials and China Development Research experts say major victories Foundation because of the Left: Students from Yina township, Weining county in Guizhou province attend class. The town has received poverty aid and the average income of farmers has increased as have been scored and many achievements of its nutrition a result. Right: Farmers from Wanghutun village, Taijiang county in Guizhou, wear Miao ethnic group dress for tourists to take photos in lily fields. The lily plantation there is more achievements are to improvement program. Last an initiative of the local government to transform local agriculture and boost rural tourism to alleviate poverty. PHOTOS BY YANG WENBIN / XINHUA come. year, more than 8 million According to the latest data, yuan was invested to improve in the five years to December facilities at school canteens. 2017 the number of people Yang Ming is a manager living below the poverty line responsible for sales and pro- in Guizhou fell by 6.7 mil- duction at Jinhe Agricultural lion and the poverty rate Development and Investment Innovative program digs deep to decreased significantly, from Co Ltd, a company that signed 26.8 percent to 8 percent over a supply contract with school the same period. canteens in Puding. Despite that achievement, “The nutrition improve- however, officials estimate ment program can also pro- revitalize countryside of Guizhou that more than 2 million mote the development of the people still live below the agricultural industry and national poverty line. the income of impoverished Experts say education is farmers,” Yang said. Current year seen key to lifting people out of The company has signed poverty. contracts with 49 households as pivotal for the Guizhou invested 331.5 bil- and cooperatives. More than lion yuan ($52.35 billion) in 1,857 metric tons of meat, eggs region’s future developing education since and vegetables were sent to economic and 2012, and a comprehensive schools last year and 2,819 educational assistance system impoverished households social development has been set up gradually. benefited from it. Before the new school year, According to data provided officials in Puding county to the assistance center, Pud- By CAO YINGYING in the city of Anshun were ing county supported 180,000 [email protected] tasked with briefing 17,886 impoverished students with poor households about how more than 100 million yuan A new poverty alleviation to take advantage of new pro- in funding in 2017. program has been launched gressive education policies In the past year, in the entire by the Guizhou Provincial that can help them. province of Guizhou a total of Party Committee and govern- These aim to make sure 4.7 million impoverished stu- ment to revitalize the prov- that their children will be able dents were supported. ince’s countryside, starting to attend school and change Officials said the Nutrition from Feb 24 and running to their futures through educa- Improvement Program for June 30. tion, supported by tuition dis- Rural Compulsory Students According to the Guizhou counts, national grants and has been fully implemented government, the current year loans. and has covered all rural areas is seen as pivotal for the prov- “Every year we insist on in the province. ince’s economic and social investigating and collect- Wang Fengyou, former development. ing information on students head of the Guizhou Provin- The poverty alleviation whose families have eco- cial Department of Education, program is the key mission nomic difficulties,” said Liu said during the two sessions for the province. Hui, director of the Center of of Guizhou’s legislative and The program has four Student Assistance Adminis- political advisory bodies in major goals, the first being tration in Puding. January that the province’s to adjust the structure of “According to their family education system still faced the agricultural sector dur- conditions, we establish an the problem of uneven stan- ing this spring’s ploughing Local residents celebrate Spring Festival last year at their newly relocated homes in Huishui county, Guizhou’s Qiannan Bouyei and Miao information database, which dards and disparities between season. autonomous prefecture, part of local government’s effort towards poverty alleviation. tao LIANG / XINHUA greatly improves the work rural and urban schools. According to government efficiency and the accuracy of “By 2018, Guizhou plans to plans, corn fields need to be the assistance.” take the lead in achieving a reduced by 330,000 hect- To speed up road construc- Guizhou government will relo- dents will be timely and the Government and schools of balanced education in rural ares in 2018 while the total tion in villages, Guizhou will cate selected rural areas and province’s government will the county have been active- areas, including 29 counties area given over to cultivat- 10m increase investment by 10 implement urbanization there, improve education standards ly raising funds to improve and the Gui’an New Area in ing vegetables is set to reach billion yuan ($1.58 billion) on a county-by-county basis. in districts with ethnic com- the catering conditions in southwestern China,” he said. 933,333 hectares and tea yuan in the current year to build Officials said that by the end munities. schools following the imple- plantations should cover increase in Guizhou’s 15,000 kilometers of new of March, some 132 population The construction of clinics mentation of the Nutrition Zhao Yandi contributed to 373,333 hectares. investment in 2018 to highways, for the benefit of resettlement programs should in rural areas and primary and Improvement Program for the story. A total of 8,000 hectares build 15,000 kilometers 2.35 million locals includ- be operating. The government middle schools will also be are earmarked to grow edi- of new highways ing 350,000 impoverished said that 30 percent of the standardized and normalized. ble mushrooms and 230,000 residents. main infrastructure projects According to the Guizhou hectares of fields will be used Officials said road improve- associated with the initiative government, 80 percent of to plant Chinese medical ment and maintenance was the should be completed by the renovation projects involving herbs. In addition, the gov- 30 second major goal of the new end of June. dangerous and old houses, as ernment is targeting a poul- percent program. Last year 251 resettlement well as rivers and roads, are try population of 80 million The government will focus programs were implement- expected to start earlier in the and total 2018 egg produc- of main infrastructure on the design and specifica- ed, involving new houses for year. tion of 75,000 metric tons. projects associated tions of roads to ensure the 760,000 residents, 680,000 of In addition, it is estimated According to the Guizhou with 132 population quality of highways, and will them below the poverty line. that 20 percent of these proj- government, low-income vil- resettlement programs use big data to improve man- The Guizhou government ects should be completed by lages will establish special should be completed by agement and maintenance of also released policies on the the end of June. farmers cooperatives, sup- end of June old expressways. education, medicine and hous- Officials added that to ensure ported by technical teams In addition, village bus ing sectors. the smooth running of the and the general community services will be improved to Officials said plans to projects, the Guizhou govern- will be involved in the coop- importance on apply - bolster the rural transport net- improvement nutrition will ment would allocate sufficient eratives. ing practical measures for work. cover pre-school children in 66 project funding and encourage Students of the She ethnic group in Guizhou’s Majiang Officials said the govern- improvements at the village, The third important action impoverished counties. craftsmen and villagers to par- county have benefited from a nutrition improvement program. ment was placing great family and farmer level. being taken in 2018 is that the Financial aid to poor stu- ticipate in the projects. PROVIDED TO CHINA daiLY New online treatment service beams medical expertise to villages By CAO YINGYING Nie Wenqiong, a 53-year-old the cause of the disease and 1,543 governmental grassroots — primary illness insurance, villager who was diagnosed the patient’s condition. They medical institutions. serious illness insurance, medi- Patients in far-flung villages with diabetes three years ago, then offered a specific treat- In 2017, Guizhou’s medical cal rescue and medical support can now be attended to by doc- had to take a 40-minute bus ment plan. bodies organized difficult dis- — to reduce the burden for low- tors from first-class hospitals ride downtown to have regular ease consultations, providing income people seeking medi- in Southwest China’s Guizhou checkups each month. Now, Service spans province remote diagnosis for 114,000 cal treatment, according to the province, benefiting from however, Li does the physical Zhang Guangqi, vice-chair- villagers, as well as holding province’s government. improvements in the province’s examination for her. man of the Guizhou provin- more than 200 distance educa- During the first 11 months of remote treatment service. On Jan 18, Li found Nie’s cial committee of the Chinese tion training courses for over last year, a total of 1.84 million Villagers from Jiuchang in blood sugar was higher than People’s Political Consultative 200,000 people.