Over 1 million people lifted out of poverty in Fujian

The poverty alleviation campaign in East China's Fujian province, which began in 2010, is paying off as the number of poor dropped from 1.4 million in 2010 to 204,400 in 2016, according to research.

At the end of May, a group of experts from the National Development and Reform Commission, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Renmin University of China and China Agricultural University conducted a field investigation on the work of poverty alleviation by Fujian province.

Their investigation shows a transformation by the Fujian government who changed their approach from making donations to helping the poor get working skills and live on their own.

Also, the concept of targeted poverty alleviation has been applied to the campaign, including problem identification, administration management and result assessment, according to their investigation.

With extensive coastlines on the East China Sea, Fujian has played a key role as a window for China to communicate with the rest of the world.

However, mountains and hills account for more than 80 percent of the province's land, resulting in long-term stagnated development and poverty in the mountainous regions.

At the beginning of the campaign, the provincial government rolled out poverty alleviation policies through market-oriented measures and efforts to support local industry.

In Xiadang village in Shouning county, the local Party committee seized the opportunities of revitalizing the traditional tea industry and led villagers to develop plantations.

Through standardization of the production process and renovating the operating model, a number of local brands were cultivated, transforming traditional production to a modern one organized by professional operators.

The annual disposable income of the villagers has increased from 4,600 yuan (about $670) in 2014 to 11,000 yuan now.

Yuan Yunji, Party chief of Songyuan village in Zhenghe county, led nine women villagers to set up a council named "Beautiful Home for Shero" in 2013.

By planting jasmine and running a tea-making workshop, the villagers' income reported a remarkable rise.

The poverty alleviation campaign also spurred the growth of local cultural events and tourism, which was achieved by using the internet and local tourism resources.

Antai Art Town in Pingnan county, known as an art gallery offering education, academic exchanges, cultural experiences, artwork trading and cultural tourism, is another example.

Currently, the town has provided jobs to 215 impoverished households and 226 disabled people after training them to work. A group of disabled artists have emerged including Shen Minghui and Xue Meilan. More than 5,000 artworks of the trainees have been sold, earning more than 1 million yuan.

In addition, the campaign adopted an innovative agricultural model for poverty alleviation by combining agricultural and financial tools to link farmers with the market.

Since 1994, the Fujian provincial government has been promoting a relocation plan, which involved moving the residents living in the remote mountainous villages to richer regions.

By the end of 2016, 1.57 million people had been relocated and more than 7,200 villages had been replaced.

The province also initiated an overall assistant system to combine the resources of the divided regions, especially between the coastal and inland areas.

Up to now 136 companies, chambers of commerce and overseas guilds have been encouraged to help 101 villages in the province. Thanks to their efforts 1,152 families have received more than 16 million yuan.

(China Daily 12/28/2018 page19)