[Poverty Alleviation Through a Lens] Women in the battle against poverty

Jiang Yingdi is the “First Secretary” of Donglei Village, Wutai County. With per-capita cultivated land of about 0.33 acres, the 600 villagers in Donglei—one fifth of whom live in poverty—depend on Mother Nature for food. Over this past year, Jiang Yingdi has been racking her brain to find ways to increase villagers’ income.

In north China’s Shanxi, a key province in the battle against poverty, more than 1,270 female first secretaries and 130 provincial-level female workers who have committed to remaining in the villages are a united force in the battle against poverty. Once white-collar office workers admired by others, they have since left their families to head to the vast, remote rural areas of China, alone. As backbones of their respective families, they were relied upon by their husbands, children, and parents—but now, they have extended their patience, enthusiasm, perseverance, and purity of heart to impoverished villagers whom they have never met, becoming their backbone in the fight against poverty.