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Lingshui's supermarket serves as a motivation for the poor

Chinagate.cn by Liu He,July 22, 2019 Adjust font size:

Villagers in Leli use the “charity coupon” to obtain products in the Leli poverty alleviation supermarket. [Photo by Chen Siguo)]

The number on the coupon indicates its value. [Photo by Chen Siguo]


On the morning of July 30, 2018, a special supermarket opened in Leli village of Lingshui County, Hainan Province. Unlike other supermarkets, here, products such as rice, oil, salt, shampoo and blankets, cannot be bought with cash, but with coupons of various value. 

This is the first poverty alleviation-oriented supermarket in Lingshui, established jointly by the local government and Hainan R&F Properties Co., Ltd, a real estate developer in the province. Its aim is to help the local villagers to achieve self-development. 

Every month, local villagers who are classified as impoverished are given different amounts of coupons. These coupons can be used to obtain daily necessities in the supermarket. On the day of opening, all of the 167 registered poor families in Lingshui made purchases with their first batch of “charity coupons”. 

According to the policy, impoverished villagers can earn credits by making contribution to the community, seeking self-development to rise out of poverty, doing voluntary work or exercising moral decency. 

“The more good things we do, the more credits we can get,” said Li Yonghua, a local villager. According to Li, a family will get two credits if one of their family members gets a job, and five credits if all the family find work. Taking care of one’s elderly parents will also earn two credits. But conduct such as damaging the environment will lose credits. These credits can be exchanged for the same value in coupons. 

These activities are listed on the poverty alleviation form. The maximum credit in a month is 220, and unused coupons can be saved to buy things later. People can buy not only small items like oil and soap, but also higher-value items like TV sets, refrigerators and washing machines.

There are measures to ensure that coupons are awarded for good performance or contributions. The coupons are printed by Benhao Town, which administers Leli, and are managed by the Leli village committee. Once a month, the official responsible for poverty reduction will grade every household according to the poverty alleviation form. The form will then be verified by the poverty alleviation working group in Leli, and signed by its group leader. Finally, the village committee will give out coupons corresponding to the total of credits. 

“Good performance gets rewards. I intend to do more,” said Fu Hechang, whose22-credit coupon was exchanged for a bag of washing powder.


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