CITADEL OF HOPE
A campaign to revive the fortunes of a remote village points the way to how to help those in need
I’ve just started working recently, and given that Shibadong village was where the government’s targeted poverty alleviation policy was first adopted it’s a unique place, and I feel really lucky to be here.”
Liu Su, assistant to the Shibadong’s village director
If ever there were a place in China whose very existence seemed to be in question it was Shibadong village in mountainous Huayuan county of the Xiangxi Tujia-Miao autonomous prefecture in Hunan, much of its land inarable and its transport links poor.
The few things it did have going for it, such as its scenic beauty and its ethnic traditions, seemed destined to remain secrets largely known only to itself, meaning the village’s 1,000 inhabitants were severely hampered in being able to make a living.
Thus it was that in Shibadong a government policy called targeted poverty alleviation was unveiled when President Xi Jinping visited the village on an inspection tour in November 2013. That policy includes harnessing the assets of such villages to eliminate poverty and keeping a track of individual households to ensure that the measures are working. In the ensuing six years it has had spectacular results, helping to put China on the verge of eliminating extreme poverty by the end of this year.
Those results can be seen in Shibadong, whose inhabitants are now enjoying newfound wealth, better living conditions and greater work opportunities. Ten years ago such villages tended to resemble retirement communities, almost all young people having moved to towns or cities where they could make a living. But that has started to change as young people, attracted by a quieter life and seeing the opportunities revitalized villages offer, opt to go and live in them. They in turn are doing their bit to make the villages wealthier and better places to live in.
One of those in Shibadong is Liu Su, whose pedigree and credentials could hardly be any more urban. He was born in the city of Changde in Hunan province, about 280 kilometers to the east, and he studied for a year in the US and for a doctorate at City University of Hong Kong.
After joining the Hunan provincial department of water resources in 2018 he was selected to work in the village as assistant to the village director, and now villagers know him fondly as Dr Liu.
While he is living apart from his wife and children at the moment — they live in Changsha — he says he needs no persuading to stay on in the village.
“I’ve just started working recently, and given that Shibadong village was where the government’s targeted poverty alleviation policy was first adopted it’s a unique place, and I feel really lucky to be here.”
It is a great place to learn and gain experience at the grassroots level, he says, his many varied tasks as village director’s assistant including to find out what villagers need and to develop its agricultural and tourist resources.
Liu came up with the idea of opening a restaurant that villagers would own and run, and this turned in a profit of 120,000 yuan ($17,068) from August to January, and created five stable jobs for villagers.
Travelers from around the world are now visiting the village, which has created demand for tour guides who can speak English, Liu says, so he set up a night school to teach English to the guides in the village.
The first course of English classes lasted six months, and Liu says he sensed that villagers became increasingly enthusiastic students. When the course ended, eager young villagers often approached Liu, anxious to know when the next course would begin.
In tackling poverty, Liu says, education is paramount.
“I realize that as an individual I don’t have a lot of power to improve local education, but succeed or fail, I want to give it a go.”
When Shi Zhichun returned to the village three years ago after university studies he returned as somewhat of a hero, the first villager to have gained a master’s degree, in law at Jishou University in Hunan in 2017. In fact, it had been the village’s connection with the targeted poverty alleviation policy that had inspired him to do his law degree, he says, and on his return he was determined to put his legal expertise to work for his fellow villagers.
“I decided to do law because our village is remote and villagers lack any legal awareness. I’d like to change their mindset and way of solving problems.”
On his return he was pleased to see that tourism was being developed, but he felt that villagers remained stuck in the past in the way they did business.
“You would find elderly people sitting in a parking lot every day, even on cold, windy winter days eager to sell stuff, but selling hardly anything. I’d sometimes go up to them, have a bit of a chat and ask what the problem was.”
Shi says he is well aware that many city dwellers would enthusiastically buy various kinds of fresh countryside food abundant in Shibadong village, but the elderly have no idea how to connect with potential customers.
To bridge the gap he opened an internet live streaming account and, with his hobbies of guitar playing and singing, he can help the villagers sell local products online.
In the early morning of July 4, 2019, Han Wei and his wife moved out from their house in Dahubu village, Fuping county, Baoding in Hebei province. They have been living there for 46 years and relocated to the county’s Longquanguan town in a resettlement area designated under government poverty alleviation policy.
Dahubu village is located in the southwest of Longquanguan town, and borders Wutai county in Shanxi province. After driving down the No 382 provincial road, one still have to take a 10-kilometer mountain road to reach there.
As a typical mountain village. the total number of households is 64 comprised of 136 people, of which 50 households of 101 people are low income families.
“In Dahubu, it is difficult to get married, especially a young man,” Han said.
In March 2017, the county government decided to build a poverty alleviation resettlement area in Longquanguan town and relocate all Dahubu villagers.
The resettlement area is next to the town’s government, close to the No 382 provincial road with convenient transportation.
After more than two years of construction, Han’s new house was completed. Han’s son, grandson and members of the governmental work team came to help with the relocation.
The new house was well-decorated, and the household appliances were bought online by Han’s children. Han did not have much to remove from the mountains, except for some bedding and clothes.
Han was excited after moving into the new house, and kept saying: “I am old, but now I get to live in a new building.”
It is reported that up to now, Fuping county has relocated 17,714 households of 53,748 people in total, among which 17,620 households of 53,535 people relocated to the designated resettlement area, while 94 households of 225 people in other neighborhoods.