Regional pairing pays off, rewriting lives

"The contrast was striking — moving from the mountains to the sea," Yang said. "Without this opportunity, I would still be trapped in that small town, likely married and having children at a younger age. The Fujian-Ningxia cooperation completely rewrote my life."

This cooperation has also driven rural vitalization. In Yangjiadian village of Longde county in Guyuan, the partnership has sparked a shift from relying on aid to achieving self-sustained growth.

By utilizing cooperation funds, the remote mountain village turned traditional courtyards into boutique homestays. Zhao Zhiren, the village's Party chief, said that Fujian brought ideas and talent as well as capital.

To improve public services, Fujian has dispatched over 7,000 education and healthcare professionals to Ningxia. This framework has fostered 163 institutional pairings, successfully upgrading the operations of local schools and hospitals.

Arriving at a hospital in Xiji county in Guyuan in 2025, Fujian medical expert Zheng Pengxiang focused on the urgent challenge of utilizing advanced equipment that often sat idle once aid experts left.

"Our mission was to build a local medical team that never departs," Zheng said, targeting the high incidence of urinary stones associated with local water and diet.

Backed by 7.68 billion yuan in financial aid, Ningxia has continuously upgraded its rural infrastructure, public services and distinctive local industries.

Driven by these investments, Ningxia's per capita GDP had reached nearly 78,000 yuan by 2025, skyrocketing almost 19-fold compared to 1996 levels, according to official data.

Qiu said that the pairing cooperation has replaced simple fiscal transfers with a government-led and market-driven dual framework, allowing the cooperation to evolve from basic financial aid to self-sustaining industrial partnerships, and now to mutual empowerment.

"This ongoing momentum thrives on resource complementarity and mutual benefit," Qiu said, adding that such a model vividly embodies the essence of Chinese modernization aimed at common prosperity.

The practice proves that regional development imbalance — a perennial global challenge — can be effectively resolved, offering a compelling blueprint for advancing modernization, he said.