By Qian Zongyang, Li Qian and Zhou Zhou
Editor's Note: This is one of the heartwarming stories from China in this new era. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President Xi Jinping, who cares for the ordinary people, has visited poverty-stricken regions many times to bring solutions to the challenges and obstacles hindering poverty reduction. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has considered its participation in poverty alleviation a concrete move to translate its loyalty to the Party into practical actions. With a strong sense of mission, the whole army is fulfilling its commitment to share the Party’s burdens and strive for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the benefit of the people.
[Playback] On the eve of the Spring Festival of 2016, President Xi, traveling on the bumpy and tortuous mountain road, came to visit the people at the Shenshan village, Maoping township in Jinggangshan City, Jiangxi province, Southeast China. He told the villagers that the CPC serves the people whole-heartedly and will ceaselessly and strongly support the development of the old revolutionary base areas and help the villagers live a better life. He vowed that no impoverished family or individual would be left behind on the way to poverty alleviation.
Soldiers help farmers of the Dubei Village harvest muscat grapes in the grape garden in the militia poverty alleviation pilot base of the Dubei Village built with the assistance of the PLA Eastern Theater Command headquarters. (PLA Daily/Duan Jie)
In the Dubei village，Longshi township of Jinggangshan City, a wide road was under construction.
“When the road is completed, our village will become part of the Hunan-Jiangxi red tourism circle,” said Xie Xinfa, secretary of the Party branch of Dubei village.
The remote geographical location of Dubei village has long impeded its economic development. In recent years, thanks to the targeted support and assistance from the PLA Eastern Theater Command, Dubei village has upgraded its infrastructure and fostered the Red tourism and green eco-industries to lift itself out of poverty.
In early 2016, the Eastern Theater Command headquarters chose the Dubei village of Jinggangshan City as its poverty reduction assistance target.
With 44 impoverished households totaling 151 persons, the village faced an arduous task of poverty alleviation. Since 2016, the Eastern Theater Command headquarterss have brought anti-poverty projects to the village every year, from infrastructure upgrade to green ecological planting and to e-commerce. In recent years, Jinggangshan City has developed the Red tourism industry at a faster pace. Supported by the Eastern Theater Command headquarters, Dubei village seized this opportunity and renovated many red tourism sites and facilities.
In 2017, the drinking water project sponsored by the Eastern Theater Command headquarters was completed, and every household had access to clear running water. As the “Red Army well” accomplished its mission, the villagers renovated it and have kept it in good condition as a Red tourism attraction. It also in 2017 that the Jingnagshan county became the first county in China saying good riddance to poverty and withdrawing from the nation’s impoverished county list.
Coming to Dubei village, the reporters saw many villagers busy in the grape garden. Xie Xinjia, director of the village committee, told the reporters that the per capita net income in the village was less than RMB2,500 per year before the village got rid of poverty in 2017. With the financial and technical assistance from the Eastern Theater Command headquarters , the village has built a muscat grape garden with an area of 35 mu (about 2.33 hectares), said Xie, not only bringing yearly dividends for the impoverished households but also offering jobs for the villagers.
Years ago, the only road connecting the Dubei village with the outside world was all bumps and pits. In 2013, the village had a harvest of watermelons. But when the truck loaded with watermelons arrived at the marketplace, nearly 1/3 of them were jolted broken. Therefore, the first project sponsored by Eastern Theater Command headquarters was renovating the road.
Huai Qianjin would never forget the first time he came to Dubei village. He visited five impoverished families in a row and found all them had ill family members, and some were elderly people who live alone. To ensure steady income for them, the poverty alleviation working team from the Eastern Theater Command headquarters have introduced a photovoltaic power generation project to the village, creating an annual collective revenue of RMB80,000 as dividends to those impoverished households.
87-year-old Guo Fuyun, who lives alone, told the reporters that now he has a certain amount of annual income, the basic needs of his daily life has bettered than before.
Last year, he bought specially a set of new bamboo-wood furniture. “When the PLA offices comes next time, I’d ask them to try and sit on my new chairs,” said Guo smilingly.
In Dubei village, 86-year-old Liu Youlan told the reporters a story about sweet potato.
Years ago when the poverty alleviation work group of the Eastern Theater Command headquarters came to visit him, he treated the officers with some dried sweet potatoes that he made himself, but they didn’t touch the sweets.
“we didn’t despise your sweets at all, it was because we really thought it’s not easy for you to make the dried sweet potatoes, which were too precious to eat.” These words have lingered in the old man’s mind because, though the dried sweet potatoes aren’t worth much, he was deeply touched by their sincerity and considerateness.
Wang Xu, a member of the work group, told the reporters that the villagers felt quite tense and prim with the work group at first, and he often needed “interpretation” from the village cadres because he didn’t quite understand the local dialect.
“Later we visited those elders at home, I chatted with them while doing household chores like sweeping floors for them. Gradually I could understand what they were saying and we got closer with each other.”
When the novel coronavirus epidemic broke out in early 2020, several lonely and widowed elders in the village offered to make donations, saying that they would do their bit when the country was in adversity.
