Gao Xiuying, a 66-year-old widow in Juancheng county, Shandong province, finally affords to buy meat for her disabled son. But three years ago, without poverty-alleviation workshops, even proper food and basic medical treatment were beyond her reach.
In Juancheng, an underdeveloped county lying on the floodplain of the Yellow River, a group of aged dwellers lived below the poverty line.
"My husband passed away around 18 years ago, and my son couldn’t take care of himself. Life was extremely difficult. We couldn’t even afford proper food and didn’t have enough money for medical treatment, let alone spare money to buy meat," said Gao Xiuying.
But her life changed after the county government set up a poverty alleviation workshop in her village.
"I decided to move my workshop from Qingdao to Juancheng. In this county, I can save at least 60 percent of labour cost. What is more important is that I can help bring my fellow villagers out of poverty because people working here are mostly from poor households," said Guo Ruixia,manager of Xinguan Hats Co., Ltd.
"At the beginning I could only do odd jobs, then I started to learn skills and could earn up to 800 yuan per month. The work here is not tiring, it's much easier than farming and I can take care of my family," said Gao Xiuying.
Specialties like handicrafts made by poor households can be sold through Village Taobao, an e-commerce platform through which Alibaba cooperates with the local government to help the villagers out of poverty.
"We are living a better life, and my son and I can have meat now, which was hard to imagine. I feel confident about the future," said Gao Xiuying.
(Produced by "Aspire–Living Stories" team of China.org.cn)