Old revolutionary base revives amid China's poverty alleviation efforts
Dawan village, an old revolutionary base in Jinzhai county of Anhui province, has been lifted out of poverty by resettling local villagers and developing tea business and rural tourism.
By Cui Can
A promise
In 2015, Yu Jing was sent to Dawan to be the team leader on poverty alleviation. She recalled that the poverty rate of the village was as high as 28% at that time. It dropped to 7% in 2018.
Upon arriving in Dawan, Yu realized that resettlement alone was not enough to keep poverty alleviation sustainable, and a long-term poverty alleviation mechanism with a focus on industrial development must be set up.
In the past few years, Yu and her team took several measures of targeted poverty alleviation, including developing the tea business, rural tourism, photovoltaic power generation, and raising poultry, in order to provide more job opportunities and income sources for villagers.
Dawan now has about 200 hectares of tea plantations, and its Lu'an tea is one of China's famous tea brands. In the first nine months of 2020, Dawan's 42 homestays and specialty stores received about 200,000 tourists. The per capita disposable income in Dawan doubled from 2014 to 2019, reaching 14,236 yuan (US$2,205).
"I feel that people are happier, and everyone realizes the changes in their life brought by the Party's policies," Yu said.
Yu once made a promise that she would not withdraw from her post until all the families in the village were lifted out of extreme poverty.
"I said this, and I will do this." said Yu.
