China's revolutionary heartland casts off poverty

Jinggangshan, the heartland of the early revolutionary activities of the Communist Party of China (CPC) announced Sunday that it has been officially taken off the list of impoverished areas.

Jinggangshan, east China's Jiangxi Province, was home to the CPC's first rural revolutionary base established in 1927. Today, people who live under the poverty line account for 1.6 percent of the total population, lower than the national standard of 2 percent, according to the city government.

The local government attributed the success to the precision poverty relief campaign in full swing across the country. Precision means that money should be spent exactly where it is needed, and no more than is needed.

Jinggangshan's poor population stood at 16,934 in 2014. That figure has fallen to 1,417 today. The average net income of poor families has grown from 2,600 yuan (378 U.S. dollars) to over 4,500 yuan.

Jinggangshan helped people to start their own businesses or find jobs, while providing a safety net for those who were unable. In addition, it helped poor people move into quality homes and improved rural infrastructure in rural areas.

The government has encouraged the poor people to be part of the city's most successful industries, such as tea, bamboo and fruit plantations and processing, as well as aquaculture.

Zhong Wanyin has stopped worrying about money since he started work in his village fish farm and earns more than 20,000 yuan a year. He is also a shareholder in the farm with an investment of 5,000 yuan funded by the government, which has brought him a 20 percent annual dividend.

E-COMMERCE AND TOURISM CUTS POVERTY

E-commerce has helped produce from Jinggangshan's 18 townships reach buyers beyond the mountains, benefiting more than 2,400 people.

"Over 17,000 parcels, worth some 1.6 million yuan, have been sent since this e-commerce service center opened over a year ago," said Huang Xiaohua, head of the e-commerce service center in Huang'ao Township.

Jinggangshan has also capitalized on its fame as the revolutionary heartland. More than 13 million people visited Jinggangshan last year.

Bashang Village offers a one-day training program to experience the life of the Red Army and attracted more than 40,000 participants in 2016.

Lai Puxiu, a villager from Bashang Village, prepares lunch for her visitors every day.

"I charge each person 33 yuan for their meal," Lai, 58, said. "The food is simple and similar to that eaten by Red Army soldiers."

"In the past, we grew crops in a few fields and life was hard," Lai said. "But these days so many visitors come to our village that we started a catering business."

Bashang is home to more than 630 registered residents, but about 400 of them are off seeking their fortunes in the big cities. The village's reinvention of itself with the catering business has brought more than 100 of them back.

Lai Puxiu gets up early to buy ingredients from the nearest town, but also grows vegetables in her backyard.

"My husband and I usually prepare bamboo shoots, pumpkin, eggplant, fish and braised pork in soy sauce," Lai said.

While Lai prepares lunch, she has her visitors pound cooked glutinous rice into paste, a traditional way to make a local snack called "ciba." She charges each visitor 100 yuan for the privilege of making ciba and provides all the ingredients as well as the equipment for making it.

To add some razzmatazz to the visitor experience, Lai has decorated her house "Red style." Inside stands an old stove and a few rickety wooden tables. Outside, flutter a pair of duilian, hanging scrolls of inspirational couplets.

In peak season, she can receive 40 visitors a day. This year, she has catered for about 900 visitors. Other families in Bashang have seen their income increase by an average of 18,000 yuan this year.

"My family hosted 850 people attending the program last year, and earned more than 10,000 yuan by providing room and board," said villager Xiao Fumin.

PRESSING TASK

Poverty alleviation remains a pressing task. The Chinese government has decided to eradicate poverty by 2020, the target year for China to become a "moderately prosperous" society.

According to official figures, China still had 55.75 million people living under the poverty line at the end of 2015. The government has said 10 million people were lifted out of poverty in 2016 and another 10 million will be this year.

A national coordinated development strategy has contributed to poverty reduction in Hebei Province, whose counties bordering on Beijing and Tianjin were once described as a "poverty belt."

One million people emerged from poverty last year in Hebei, but about 2 million remain in miserable conditions. Another 700,000 should be freed from their shackles this year in Hebei through supplying agricultural products to those two rich neighbors. There are plans for a number of resorts in the province to accommodate city residents keen to spend their weekends in the mountains.

Southwest China's Yunnan Province plans to bring 1 million of its 3.5 million poor people above the poverty line in 2017.