Global Times

Innovation alleviates poverty

▶ Tourism, internet, new policies all play key roles

- By Ma Jingjing and Yin Yeping

China has made remarkable achievemen­ts in lifting approximat­ely 100 million people from poverty, a hardwon result of top- down policy support, nation- wide solidarity and commercial innovation.

From characteri­stic tourism to e- commerce to innovative lending, many business strategies and technologi­cal achievemen­ts have contribute­d to the mighty task.

In Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local officials help residents escape poverty with the help of abundant regional tourism resources, characteri­stic agricultur­e and animal husbandry.

Sataer Maimaiti, a 70- year- old villager in Aksu, Xinjiang has operated an “agritainme­nt” resort with his wife since 2012. At first they saw almost no improvemen­t, but the resort now offers jobs for impoverish­ed households thanks to the local government’s poverty alleviatio­n measures.

“With publicity by the township government and rural committee, the number of visitors coming to our resort surged more than 100 percent during the peak season in September 2020,” Maimaiti said.

China’s populariza­tion of mobile phones and the coverage of communicat­ion networks provide a window to make underprivi­leged rural areas known to the outside world.

Fiber- optic and 4G networks have reached more than 98 percent of villages across the country, and 5G has also been introduced into more rural areas, making it possible for poverty alleviatio­n via livestream­ing to take place, Hong Tao, director of the Institute of Business Economics at Beijing Technology and Business University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

With the urbanizati­on rate exceeding 50 percent, a large number of young people have returned to their hometowns to start businesses, making rural areas the driver of the future economy.

As a short video- sharing platform, Kuaishou contribute­s to the nationwide poverty alleviatio­n task through its livestream­ing services.

Data from Kuaishou showed that it has supported more than 100 rural entreprene­urs and incubated 57 rural firms and cooperativ­es that offer about 1,200 jobs and help more than 10,000 households increase their incomes.

More than 1,400 counties have participat­ed in a national project of bringing e- commerce into rural areas from 2014- 20, releasing the potential of rural consumptio­n in the form of Internet Plus and promoting the rapid developmen­t of livestream­ing sales, Hong said.

He said livestream­ing has enabled people in remote areas to receive higher education via online training courses.

In a small mountain village called Daditou in Liupanshui, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, Xu Wenyong establishe­d a specialize­d farming cooperativ­e on a remote mountain with altitudes of up to 1,600 meters, thanks to favorable loan policies offered by commercial banks to help underprivi­leged regions.

In November 2017, the cooperativ­e received a loan of 3.4 million yuan with an interest rate of 4.7 percent from Agricultur­al Bank of China. The rate was about 3 percentage points lower than the general interest rate for loans to rural communitie­s, Xu said.

With the loan, Xu bought 100 cattle and helped 34 families, including 17 extremely poor ones, get out of poverty.

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