Polishing a Gem
Interview with Zhang Yongping, Director of Shangluo Development and Reform Committee
Shangluo City in Shaanxi Province lies at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains, hailed as China’s National Central Park which divides the country into northern and southern halves. It was comparatively underdeveloped economically due to its geographical location: stuck between the water source reserve for a project of diverting water from south to north and the Qinling Mountains Forest Vegetation Reserve. This is a major reason it remained one of the most poverty-stricken areas in the country, with about 1 percent of China’s impoverished population. All seven of its counties, Shangzhou, Luonan, Danfeng, Shangnan, Shanyang, Zhen’an, and Zhashui, are national major targets for poverty alleviation.
Despite its richly-endowed mineral resources, Shangluo was notorious for over 100 mine dumps, accounting for 1 percent of China’s total. In 2009, the local government committed to centralizing all its power to develop a recycling economy by establishing an economic district for the recycling industry. The dream came true in 2013 when the city was included among the first group of pilot cities for China’s recycling economy, becoming a pace car for practical recycling development.
With an aim for green, recycling, and low-carbon development, the municipal government of Shangluo has reshaped industrial patterns long supported by agriculture by elevating sophisticated materials, green food, and bio-pharmaceuticals to dominant trades, along with the fast-growing emerging industries such as new-energy automobiles, electronic information, and intelligent manufacturing.
Today, Shangluo has shaken off its status as one of the poorest areas in the province as well as the country: It takes pride in its position as one of the most rapidly-developed regions with a thriving economy. During the 12th Five-year Plan period (2010-2015), the city witnessed annual GDP growth of 12.9 percent, with an annual average growth point of 2.7 for five years in a row, higher than the province as a whole.
Urbanization is investible along the journey of modernization; and Shangluo took it as a breakthrough for progress, socially and economically. In 2013, the municipal government put forth a new idea of building Shangluo into a central city with “one body with two wings.” As designed, by 2020, the city will relocate 800,000 people – one third of the city’s total population – to urban areas, which will expand from 26 to 120 square kilometers. Its total output value will be 100 billion yuan, and its fiscal revenue, 8.5 billion yuan, both accounting for over 65 percent of the city’s total. The per capita disposable income of its urban citizens will reach 68,000 yuan, and the per capita net income of rural residents will exceed 20,000 yuan, both doubling today’s figures.
An intercity railway will soon shuttle between the city and Xi’an, the provincial seat of Shaanxi, and high-speed rails will connect it to other parts of the country.
Shangluo will take on a new look as a modern, central city, pulling along its neighboring small towns and villages, and serving as a new growth point for an ecologically-beautiful Shaanxi full of vigor and vitality.
China Pictorial (CP): What has the poverty situation been like in Shangluo over the last few years, and what are its causes?
Zhang Yongping (Zhang): The seven counties under the jurisdiction of Shangluo include old revolutionary regions, and together they represent one of the 14 concentrated poverty-stricken areas in the country, with a large area and big poor population, many extremely impoverished, and a high rate of people falling back into poverty. Today, 546,700 people in 916 villages are plagued by poverty, most of whom live in alpine-cold and remote mountainous areas. Many households can hardly escape an odd cycle of poverty alleviation followed by a return to poverty, and then more alleviation.
CP: Could you please explain the major tasks of the city’s precision poverty aid policies highlighted by “two responsibilities and two promotions”?
Zhang: Since 2014, under the guidance of the Central Government’s policy concerning precision poverty alleviation, Shangluo has launched campaigns featuring “two responsibilities and two promotions,” calling for joint efforts from the whole city. The “twos” refer to “the responsibility system that departments are responsible for villages and cadres for households, aiming to promote the village’s economic progress, aid low-income families, and help village cadres improve their work and upgrade their governance capabilities.”
After analyzing the distribution and classification of the impoverished population, as well as their living and working conditions compared to requirements of the national support programs, the municipal government set its target for poverty aid: 1,031 out of its 1,717 villages and 140,000 households with labor capacity.
The campaigns will be carried out in two rounds. The first will span from 2014 to 2016, and the second, 2017 to 2020. To date, the impoverished population has decreased from 641,300 in 2013 to 300,000, cutting it in half, and the per capita income of impoverished villages and citizens doubled that of 2013. By 2020, 640,000 people will shake off poverty.
CP: How is it going?
Zhang: Meeting provincial standards for poverty, by the end of 2015, Shangluo raised the living standards of 469,000 people, and poverty incidence fell from 44.84 percent in 2010 to 25.2 percent. Today, the municipal government is working hard to organize and mobilize social forces to use teamwork to fight poverty and raise more funds through more channels.
CP: How can leaders optimally implement the “two responsibilities and two promotions”?
Zhang: Precision poverty aid through the “twos” is a tough, complicated, systematic project. The municipal government has established several mechanisms to hasten the process from the institutional aspect, which include (A), leaders taking the lead, as leading groups at all levels have been established; (B), resource integration, with a platform for fundraising to be established for reserve funds; (C), model demonstration, with a total of 102 demonstration sites confirmed for pilot efforts; (D), bilateral commitment to the responsibilities of related departments and poverty-stricken villages and households; and (E), dynamic mechanism for supervision and examination.