Post-poverty in Rural Hebei
Poverty alleviation has always been one of the paramount goals of the Chinese government, and poverty inevitably plagues rural areas the most. In China, as in many other developing countries, growth across various regions of the country has been unbalanced and income gaps have expanded. The massive jump in urbanization and accelerated development in recent years have only made it more difficult for the millions engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry to make a living. Although more and more farmers are moving to cities in the hope of improving their living conditions, they often still don’t earn enough money to provide a comfortable life for their families. The left-behind members of these families, mostly seniors and children, suffer the most. Rural areas are unable to provide adequate education and nutrition for growing children. It’s no mystery why poverty alleviation has become a monumental challenge for China.
However, since 2001, many dramatic improvements in key rural areas have been credited to the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government. People in a wide range of regions are seeing increased earnings, enjoying better-developed infrastructure and witnessing a significant drop in illiteracy and a rise in school attendance. The emergence of clinics in most villages has afforded wider access to healthcare. As a result of the combined efforts of many agencies, China managed to become the first country to achieve the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals target of reducing the country’s poor population by half. The impressive numbers were achieved through the implementation of many different types of initiatives including economic reform, infrastructure building and specifically-targeted policies.
The most specific policies are perhaps the most challenging for local authorities, but they can also be the most empowering. Most governmental projects in rural areas require social participation and aim to make villagers self-reliant. In its 13th Five-year Plan (2016-2020), the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) preserved targeted poverty alleviation as a central goal, and looked to empower people through 12 key targeted poverty alleviation programs based on local characteristics including tourism povertyreduction, photovoltaic poverty-reduction and special agriculture poverty reduction. In recent years, projects following these key programs have been implemented in Hebei, a province that neighbors Beijing and Tianjin, yet remains one of the poorest in China. A total of 74 million people inhabit Hebei’s 170 counties, of which 62 have acknowledged poor conditions. To get a better idea about how such measures work, we took a closer look at five participating counties in the prefecture-level city of Xingtai in this northern Chinese province.
Innovative Nanhe Agricultural Carnival
Nanhe County is located in the heart of the North China Plain and is a traditional agricultural county that is home to 44 poverty-stricken villages. Nanhe County Agricultural Carnival Project, based in the administrative area of Jiasong Town of Nanhe County in Xingtai, has already helped 8,525 people from 31 of these villages escape poverty. The project was designed by China Agricultural University and features a 27,000-square-meter ensemble of greenhouses in which vegetables, edible fungi, herbs for Chinese medicine and crops for livestock are grown. The structures also serve as a laboratory in which cutting-edge agricultural technologies such as soil-less culture and 3D planting can be honed, and has become the most popular agricultural tourism destination in Hebei Province. At its launch in July 2016, an agreement with local residents was signed that allocated each of them a share of 4,000 yuan in a trust meant to encourage locals to invest in local companies and create stable incomes. The project quickly became profitable, and villagers began receiving an annual 10 percent dividend. The Agricultural Carnival also created 100 permanent jobs for local villagers such as gardeners, food preparers, janitors and tour guides.
Sunny Green Energy in Lincheng County
The development of solar energy has become a powerful weapon for the government to fight poverty, and Lincheng County was selected for one of the first trials back in 2015. So far, three ground centralized solar power stations have been installed in the county, with a total capacity of 170 megawatts. The company overseeing the project, Lincheng Golden Concord Solar Power Co., Ltd., has installed a 28megawatt solar station on the outskirts of
Liujiadong Village. The solar station can provide about 34.54 million kilowatt hours of green energy every year. The earnings of eight percent of the 28 megawatts of this station will be distributed across 800 local impoverished households, bringing each of them an annual income of 3,000 yuan. The company has installed solar panels on the roofs of 120 households, which earn each of them an annual income of about 6,000 yuan. Complementing the investments in emerging eco-agriculture, the company has also worked alongside villagers to build 250 solar-panel roofed greenhouses for vegetables. The move has greatly enhanced local agriculture and continues to contribute to the improvement of air quality, which has been another major problem in the Xingtai area.
Cutting-edge Breeding of Hebei Runtao
Hebei Runtao Husbandry Science and Technology Co., Ltd. created the first sheep-breeding base of its kind in northern China. The institution, founded in 2012 and housing about 12,000 sheep, attaches great importance to scientific research and cooperation with universities. Doctoral program work stations for two universities have been established there. The base constantly strives to make breeding and feeding more eco-friendly and shares its expertise with local ranching households. The company plays an active role in targeted poverty alleviation by providing each poor household a financial subsidy of 6,000 yuan and helping them with breeding, disease prevention and treatment for free. In 2016, each household received an 8-percent dividend as a result of the agreement. The company also buys a large volume of crops from neighboring villages, significantly increasing incomes by about 3,000 yuan per year. The company has also filed applications for organic certification.
Eco-tourism in Chenyang
Chenyang, which means “glorious future,” is a traditional village at the foot of Tiantai Mountain, sandwiched between two lakes. It is affiliated with Xishu Town of Lincheng County. The remains of its pagoda, temple and watchtower testify to the lengthy history of the village, in which numerous local operas are performed every year. As a tourist destination, the village has much to offer. But Chenyang is also
impoverished and has been working hard to improve the living conditions of its people for a long time. In recent years, the village has adopted a model described as “joint construction of the village and the Tiantai Mountain scenic spot,” which aims to boost tourism and increase local income. A variety of complementary activities have been developed to accompany this new initiative, such as growing fruit in greenhouses, silkworm farming, farmhouse restaurant development and water pump manufacturing, which have created more than 100 new local jobs. So far, 21 greenhouses have been raised around the village and a cooperative involving sweet potato starch noodle producers was founded. New infrastructure is making life in the village more manageable. Visitors can now enjoy
Lvling’s Nuts
Established in the economic development zone of Lincheng County in 2011, Lvling Manor Co., Ltd. is the only large company in China engaged in the top-tobottom industrial chain needed to produce and sell high-quality thin-shelled walnuts. The company’s walnut orchard covers a total area of 140 square kilometers, and it plays an active role in poverty alleviation in several different ways. It has created permanent and temporary jobs for more than 8,000 people from local and neighboring areas, provides farmers with high-quality seedlings, pays above market prices for nuts and facilitates free on-site technical support. As a result, the company benefits from higher-quality walnut output. This long-term and empowering cooperative arrangement between the company and local residents has resulted in Lvling being certified as a National Poverty Alleviation Leading Enterprise. Annually, the company processes about 30,000 tons of walnuts. Lvling also operates through a variety of sales channels, primarily through major Chinese e-commerce platforms. All these projects not only provide additional income to local families, but also create new hope. Xingtai, which has been recognized as one of the most polluted cities in China due to the high concentration of industry in the area, has gradually marched forward with sustainable green businesses staffed by local residents, empowered people and distributed profits, creating a brighter outlook for future generations. a historic place, real farm life experience and delicious local food without sacrificing basic modern amenities.