The city of Datong, Shanxi province, helped 46,000 farmers escape from poverty through its "each village with a cadre" project in 2013, with the per capita net income of farmers reaching 5,558 yuan ($895), an increase of 575 yuan ($93) year on year.

Through the project, 665 village cadres are each responsible for a village, and the feedback from these farmers is the key basis of assessment, appointment and promotion of these cadres.

Last year, 29 infrastructure programs, 38 poverty relief industrial programs, 31 social undertaking programs, and 1,278 continued programs have been completed, and the four industrial clusters consisting of animal husbandry, vegetables, coarse cereals and orchards are coming together.

Personnel responsible for Datong's municipal poverty relief office said that the achievement is quite impressive. By this March, 58 enterprises had made 3.61 billion yuan ($0.58 billion) worth of investment, transferring 93,000 mu of farmland, helping nearly 160,000 poor families and absorbing 33,000 impoverished laborers.

Edited by Zhou Yuanyuan and Brian Salter