Field trip study
China has been inviting officials from developing countries to visit the regions with inspiring poverty reduction experience, allowing them to witness the achievements of China’s work in this area with their own eyes and exchange ideas on the subject with each other.
Jinggangshan in East China’s Jiangxi Province is one of the popular destinations in the country to host such overseas delegations. The county- level city shook off poverty in 2017, making it the first registered county to achieve the goal.
Known as the “cradle of the Chinese revolution” for its unique historical and political resources, Jinggangshan adopted “red tourism” as one of its strategies for development.
In Jinggangshan, the visiting foreign groups, consisting foreign diplomats in China or invited officials and experts engaged in anti- poverty work, would not only visit local museums and landscapes to learn about the history, but also walk into the homes of families in the poverty- stricken villages, the Global Times learned.
For instance, during a tour in the winter of 2017, foreign diplomats in China visited the remote and small Shenshan village. They learned that compared with selling bamboo, villagers earned much more by making and selling bamboo crafts. Also, it was a practice that raised people’s confidence in the government for poverty alleviation.
Xiao Ying, an official from the publicity department of Jinggangshan, served as an English interpreter for the visiting group in summer 2018.
According to Xiao, the foreign officials and experts were very interested in specific measures of Jinggangshan’s poverty alleviation work. They asked many questions, such as how to promote industries, how to ensure the basic needs of povertystricken families, how to deal with corruption and how to solve the problems of officials working on poverty reduction, Xiao told the Global Times.
“It is valuable to share our experience on poverty alleviation to the people of developing countries,” Xiao said, “I am glad to see Jinggangshan could contribute to the world’s poverty reduction.”
In addition to inviting foreign officials to the regions to see how the poverty reduction work is done, some organizations including the Beijing- based International Poverty Reduction Center in China also host seminars to share experiences.
In May 2019, a Global Times reporter joined a group of grassroots officials from ASEAN countries on a visit to Hebian village in Yunnan Province to learn about China’s experiences in poverty alleviation at the village level through on- site teaching and seminars, which won praise from participants.