The Symposium Attended by the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee

In Lin County, the Qinshui River flowing from north to south into the Yellow River is a main source of water for irrigation of most of the fields along the river banks. Perhaps it's the fertile land on this slender and small basin that won it the reputation of “Ukraine in the Jin-Sui border area.” When you walk along the Qiushui River, the contiguous vegetable patches and bustling trade may give you some illusion and make it hard for you to connect the place with abject poverty.

However, it's not the truth.

Poverty, like refuge-seeking animals, is hidden deep in mountains. On our way to Zhaishang Village of Qikou, we were shocked to see that the place seemed to have nothing to do with the prosperity of the past centuries. It seems that the glorious history deliberately made a detour here, leaving it in seclusion.

The mountain roads to Zhaishang Village are mostly curving and steep, winding their way across the forehead part of the Lüliang Mountain. On one side of the road are cliff and precipices, on the other side the large stones. At one turn we may see the village at the end of the road; at another turn, the village is blocked by the mountain again. The straight-line distance between Zhaishang Village and the Qikou Township government office is merely 3 km, but the vertical distance extends over 1,000 meters. The winding road uphill made us dizzy. Qikou Township and Zhaishang Village don't seem to be in the same physical space. Standing at a high point in the village, you can get a sweeping view of the Northern Shaanxi Plateau in the distance, the Yangtze River as well as the Qikou Township. You would never imagine such dramatically different natural conditions between two places in the same county which are merely 3 km away.

We learned subsequently from the first Party chief Zhang Zhi that the winding cement road was built in 2016 as the highway along the Yellow River was rerouted. In the past, the traffic is much more difficult on the zigzagging gravel road that seemed endless. The cement road made transportation more convenient today and shortened the distance to a drive of a dozen minutes. After visiting a few more villages, we found that Zhaishang Village wasn't alone. More than 60% of the villages in the county shared similar geographical conditions, surrounded by mountains and deep ditches. Zhaishang Village is only one of them.

Party Secretary Mr. Wang said with a sign, “Why did our ancestors choose to live here?”

However, the ancestors turned out to have created the most brilliant chapter of the agrarian age under harsh conditions, which made the Lin County more awe-inspiring.

We were accompanied by the members of the village Party Committee and the villagers' committee and the task force from the Lüliang Municipal Development and Reform Commission stationed in the village.

Yang Yao seemed to have a lot to say. He said, “The most notable achievement in the new round of poverty alleviation was the improvement of working style among officials. For a long time in the past, it's difficult to interview someone from the township government, let alone the villagers' committee, unless it's arranged by the superior authorities or acquaintances. To do such interviews is an arduous task for us, but it's nowhere near as hard as the work of the village officials. The officials in all villages work tirelessly every day. The township government offices are often brightly lit for work at night.”

It's the truth. In the fight against poverty, all related work is subject to frequent and strict inspection and supervision of the county, municipal and provincial government. In the meanwhile, each official carries heavy responsibilities and dares not to be slack in their work.

The first Party chief Zhang Zhi was at a young age of 30.

Zhaishang Village and Xiazhaishang Village form an administrative village. Among a total registered population of 505 in 176 households, over 350 villagers are away all the year round to work or run business, including 202 ones who have migrated for work, over 110 ones running small business in the county seat and the rest doing some odd jobs in neighbouring townships. The educated, younger or skilled villagers have moved further away for work, while the older or unskilled ones look for jobs nearby. There were 150 permanent residents in the village, mostly above the age of 50. The village Party Committee and the villagers' committee included ten members. There were 15 party members in the village.

Zhaishang Village is adjacent to the Yellow River and surrounded by mountains on three sides. It is a remote small village in the populous Lin County in Shanxi Province. The total area of the village is about 3193 mu , including about 764 mu of mountainous farmland (about 1.5 mu per capita), 270 mu of jujube forest, and 550 mu of walnut forest. Corn, potato, black beans, millet, and broom corn millet constitute the staple crops in the village, and jujube trees are the main commercial crops, generating an annual output of 200,000 kilograms of red dates. Among the 550 mu of walnut forest, about 50 mu had been previously planted and the rest was newly planted; it will take some time for the newly planted to bear fruit. The site conditions were quite poor, with stones about one meter beneath the soil layer.

In addition to the poor traditional farming, the breeding industry was underdeveloped as well. Three households in the village were raising sheep. Each year, two of them could produce some 60 marketable sheep each and the other could produce a dozen, adding up to an annual output of 130-plus marketable sheep in the village.

There were 71 registered poverty-stricken households with 207 persons in the village. Thanks to several years of poverty alleviation work, there remained 46 poverty-stricken households with 126 persons, registering an incidence of poverty at 24.36%, far above the provincial level. Among the registered impoverished households, there were two households eligible for Five Guarantees (food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses), five households for subsistence allowance, six disabled persons at Grade 1 and Grade 2, and the rest were ordinary poor households. It's planned to lift the whole village out of poverty in 2018.

Zhang Zhi is from Jiaocheng County in Lüliang City, a relatively well-off county in Jinzhong basin area of Shanxi Province. Although he was from a farmer's family, he's still shocked when he first came here.

Zhang Zhi said that three months after the Provincial Development and Reform Commission dispatched a task force to the village in May 2015, he was posted there to serve as the first Party chief in August. When I first arrived, the cave houses for the villagers' committee were in ruins with broken windows after being abandoned for years, with grass encroaching on the roof and in the courtyard. The Party Secretary told him that all meetings were held at his home and the villagers' committee office has been abandoned for years. Back then, to reroute the highway along the Yellow River, the workers dug tunnels in the village, which gave rise to a host of conflicts over the compensation for land. These problems remained unresolved.

This is the first and only matter they have discussed since their arrival at the village. It's not easy to know the ins and outs of the leftover problem, not to mention to resolve it. So, they decided to figure out a roundabout solution. However, you need to win the trust of villagers first, otherwise, no one will follow your leadership. The first thing they did after taking up their posts was to repair the villagers' committee compound. They led the members of the village Party committee and the villagers' committee to paint and repair the cave dwellings, buy office equipment, cement the yard, and set up the flag pole. As such, the renovated cave dwelling became the home of the task force and the office of the village Party committee and the villagers' committee, which demonstrated their dedication and serious attitude to local people.

Then, in line with the local conditions, they contacted the Municipal Development and Reform Bureau to improve the infrastructure in the village.

For a start, they provided tap water to the households. Though the village is located at a high altitude, there's spring water in the mountain. It became the source of water for drinking and irrigation of vegetable fields in summer. In 2002, a reservoir was built to provide drinking water for people and livestock in the whole province, providing the village with access to tap water. However, as the water volume wasn't large enough, they could have eight-hour access to water once every four days. All the households prepared a water jar at home to store water for use. In summer and autumn, villagers need more water for irrigation and face more difficulties in drinking water. Under such circumstances, they built a water tower to bring tap water to every house, which solved the difficulties the local people had in gaining access to drinking water. It delivered tangible benefits to the people.

Then, they renovated the power supply system. There was a 30-kilowatt transformer in the village to supply power for daily lighting. However, the power supply isn't enough for the 12th month of the lunar calendar when the villagers uphold the tradition of doing a yangko (a popular rural folk dance). Around this period every year, the electricity consumption would soar, leading to frequent trip switches, which hampered the local villagers to beat their rivals from neighboring villages in the yangko contest. Under such circumstances, they negotiated with the grid company to replace the 30 kw transformer with a 50kw one, ensuring power supply for the yongko tradition and a grain processing machine. This delivered tangible benefits to the people as well.

The third practical thing they did was road repairing. They invested RMB900,000 between 2015 and June 2017 to pave tarmac or cement roads in the village. In the past, the villagers had to carry the harvested crops on the winding narrow paths or the dirt roads that were impossible to walk on rainy days. Today, they could drive tricycles directly to the fields. Then, an additional investment of RMB800,000 was made to widen the roads into the village from a width of 3 meters to 5 meters. As such, the local people enjoyed the benefits of convenient transportation to their farmlands and to the outside world.

The next thing they did was to improve the telecommunication. In the villagers' committee compound, there was no reception signal of China Mobile services, making it impossible to receive or make a call within the compound. They had to go to a high place and move the phone around to get the signal to make a phone call. People joked that it's indeed mobile service, but what's mobile is the person, instead of the network. They called the China Mobile branch in the city to request reparation. Since then, the villagers got normal 2G signal, albeit with poor 4G signal. As such, the villagers could easily call their children who have migrated for work. The villagers are grateful for it.

After solving their difficulties with water, electricity, road and telecommunication, the villagers' attitude towards them changed significantly as they came to believe the task forces were here to perform real deeds instead of going through formalities.

In addition, they developed local industries for poverty alleviation. Firstly, in an effort for photovoltaic poverty alleviation, they set up a 100kW power station. Initiated in March 2017, the project delivered 62,000 kWh of electricity by grid-connected power stations in the village from May 30, 2017 to the end of the year; with the feed-in tariff rate of RMB0.98 per kWh (set before June 30, 2017), it generated an income of RMB45,000 for the collective economy, including a state subsidy of RMB30,000 to be granted. In this way, the villagers' collective economy made a breakthrough from zero income to a surplus of RMB15,000. Then, they prepared to build a 200kW PV on-grid power station, which was expected to produce a revenue of RMB150,000–200,000 for the village. The registered poverty-stricken households will be able to receive dividends. At present, all the public welfare jobs, such as the maintenance of power stations and the cleaning of the village, are offered to the poor households which each can earn about RMB 1,000–2,000.

The industrial restructuring has been a priority in the village, but it takes time and requires leaders for each item of work. Planting radix bupleuri is risky and time-consuming. It takes three years to be ready for sale. Therefore, they planted it on a trial basis in the land for jujube trees, walnut trees, dam field, and slope field, covering an area of 30 mu . After being planted last September, the radix bupleuri has been growing well. The county government provides a subsidy of RMB 200 per mu for growing Chinese herbal medicine, and they can apply for the subsidy. If they fail to be granted the subsidy within three years, it may dent the villagers' enthusiasm and they may give up.

Zhang Zhi told us that “Having been here for two years, I know better about the rural work and become more experienced. The other day when I called my father, he told me that an election was coming in my hometown Jiaocheng, but no one was willing to run for the office. Finally, only one signed up to run for the Director of Villagers' Committee. I said to my father, ‘How about I going back to run?’” He was joking.

Having worked in the village for two years, Zhang Zhi was getting along well with the villagers. He said, “Our team visited every household. We've paid no less than three visits to those living in the village, and as for those who migrated for work, we tried to meet them anyway. We know the situations of impoverished families like the palms of our hands. In exaggerated terms, we may even know how much grain they have and where they put it. All these efforts were made to precisely identify the problems and formulate targeted measures.” Zhang Cai, the leader of the task force assigned from the Lüliang Municipal Development and Reform Commission, has been working in the village for a second term. When it's time for him to go back at the expiration of his term, the villagers called the municipal government to beg for him to stay, saying that he's a great leader. As such, Zhang Cai stayed for a second term of poverty alleviation work in the village.

When he was to go home for the Spring Festival, the villagers brought self-made liquor-saturated dates for him to take home. He felt a bit unworthy of it, since he didn't think he had done anything huge for them, all minor matters. For instance, a villager would like to help his kid sign up for the Dewdrop Project, but he didn't know how to use a computer and asked for his help. It's simple for him, but the villager felt so grateful to him that he asked Zhang to have dinner at his home and brought dates for him. Once, he visited an old lady in her 80s to know about her situation. They talked for a while, but she insisted on coming out to see him off and offering him a lot of dates.

The brilliant red dates are their way of saying thank-you.

It's reported that starting from November 25, 2017, the Party Secretary Luo Huining of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee toured the places along the Yellow River for an inspection of the poverty alleviating work and the publicity of the guiding principles from the 19th CPC Congress. When he came to Zhaishang Village, he had meals with the villagers, lived at the villager's home and held a conference. Zhang Zhi told us that he presided over the conference. The presence of such a high-level leader made him quite nervous at the beginning, but he managed it well. Then he told us about the visit in detail.

That's the fourth visit of the Party Secretary Luo Huining to the Lin County in 2017 and the third time that he stayed at the villager's home.

After touring around the village and having dinner at the house of the villager surnamed Bai, Mr. Luo came to visit us at dusk. He also visited the poverty-stricken households of Chen Runlian and Bai Haitian. As a provincial leader, he was so amiable, with no bureaucratic airs at all. He sat on a bench to chat with people about their daily life and sources of income. We felt not a tiny bit of pressure beside him, nor did the villagers. The people were excited to see the provincial leader in this tiny mountainous village.

In 2014, Chen Runlian's family of four had an annual income of less than RMB 5,000. In 2015, we found a job of a forklift driver in Baotou of Inner Mongolia for her son, with an annual income of RMB40,000. After covering his own expenses, her son could wire RMB30,000 to the family every year. Chen Runlian and her husband joined the sheep-raising cooperative in the village, with an additional income of RMB30,000 a year after the deduction of daily expenses.

Bai Haitian, who accommodated the Party Secretary Luo Huining, planted radix bupleuri in a land of 30 mu .

It's already 9 pm when Mr. Luo went back to the villager's house. Then, he convened a meeting with the Party Secretary Zhang of the county committee, village officials, members of the poverty-alleviating task force, and representatives of villagers to better understand their situations and difficulties. The meeting ended late at night.

Early in the next morning, Mr. Luo visited the poor households again. Chen Fulian and Bai Zhaocheng told him that they were facing a serious problem with the cracks of jujubes. In recent years, the period for the jujube to get ripe coincides with the rainy season, resulting in serious cracks of jujubes. The village had a jujube forest of 270 mu , with an annual output of 100,000 kilograms of jujubes that could generate a revenue of over RMB100,000 in normal years. Last year, however, the output was less than 15,000 kilograms and the revenue was about RMB20,000, reducing the income of the planters greatly. The phenomenon wasn't particular to the Zhaishang Village. It's a common problem in the entire Lüliang Region, especially in Yonghe County to the south of the village where the problem is much more severe. It aroused the great concern of the Party Secretary Luo Huining who immediately went to the jujube forest together with the jujube experts to see what they can do and work out a solution.

During his visit to our village, he brought tangible benefits to the people. Firstly, he negotiated with Lu'an Group to provide jobs for 25 young laborers in the village. They already started their work in the first lunar month. Secondly, he negotiated with Lu'an Group to help the villagers to plant a special type of peony with high economic value. This cooperation program has kicked off, covering about 127 mu . The planting will begin in September.

The contract was signed with the county government. According to the experts, the yield per mu could reach 150 kilograms based on the soil conditions in the village. The Party Secretary replied, “Don't overestimate it. Assuming a yield of 50–100 kilograms per mu , the revenue would reach RMB1,000–2,000. It's much more than that for corn.”

During his stay in the village, he arranged experts to lecture on the reasons for jujube cracks, the prevention and control measures, as well as the peony planting and revenue. Subsequently, he convened a meeting to publicize the guiding principles of the 19th CPC Congress, the aforementioned one that's chaired by Zhang Zhi. The speech delivered by Mr. Luo centered on five topics, namely the optimization of leading industries, improvement of laboring services, development of down-stream processing industries, shift away from outdated social practices, and the party building at the village level. He spoke on each topic in a detailed and easy-to-understand manner.

For instance, he talked about the shift away from outdated social practices with an example of the local marriage customs. A couple in their 50s in the village, after raising their children to adulthood, fell back into poverty again to get the kids married. Mr. Luo said that, “The marriage was much simpler when I was young. We didn't request any house or car or bride price to get married. Such custom must be changed.” He talked in a sensible way that found echoes in the hearts of the audience and earned a rousing applause. He talked about each topic in a popular and easy-to-understand way.

There was another interesting story during his stay in the village. The other day, the villager Feng Junyin was on his way back from Qikou and he had to climb up a long slope. Then, he saw a car coming in his direction and waved his hand in the hope of taking a ride. To his surprise, the car did stop to give him a ride and the man in the car chatted with him about the situations in the village. Later he learned that the man in the car was the Party Secretary of the CPC Provincial Committee. Feng said emotionally that, “By now, I've travelled by car for only a handful of times. It never occurred to me that I could have accidentally sat in the provincial Party Secretary's car and chat with him.”

Mr. Luo's visit this time in particular, among his multiple visits to the village, has been told from mouth to mouth, winning him wide acclaim.

On September 24, 2016, he went deep into Nan Geduo Village of Lin County for an in-depth understanding of poverty alleviation work in the village and the county.

On January 11, 2017, he went to Lin County to inspect the industrial restructuring work and visited the poor households there.

On May 6, 2017, he went to Lin County for inspection of the relocation project of the impoverished people to Chengzhuang Township that's built by Taiyuan First Building Group.

On May 14, 2017, he went to the villages in Lin County for investigation and survey, focusing on the extreme poverty.

On November 25, 2017, he went to Zhaishang Village of Lin County to publicize the guiding principles of the 19th CPC Congress and guide the poverty alleviation work.

On April 12, 2018, he went to Lin County for investigation, stressing the need to improve the planting structure and deepen the supply-side structural reform in agriculture.

It's true that Party Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee is personally responsible for the poverty alleviation of Lin County, but he has done much more than his job requires. In a period of less than two years, he paid six visits to the county and conducted in-depth inspection of the poverty alleviation work. It also demonstrates the extreme poverty in Lin County, including the mountainous areas of Lüliang Region, has been weighing on the hearts of provincial leaders.

This weather-beaten land is ready for revitalization.