Intro: Liuzhi special district of Guizhou province has taken practical approach to fighting poverty, with the help from the University of Science and Technology of China, bringing in the hope of prosperity for the district.
Located in western Guizhou province, Liuzhi special district, Liupanshui city, is one of the key county-level administrative areas in the continuous rocky desertification region that runs through Yunnan, Guangxi, and Guizhou provinces as well as one of China’s key county-level administrative areas engaged in poverty eradication and rural development. In 2015, the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) dispatched staff to work as temporary poverty alleviation officials in its borders and began offering intellectual support by leveraging its educational and technological resources, providing significant assistance to the district. The practical approach that Liuzhi has taken to fighting poverty and the help that it has received have led to fruitful outcomes and resulted in its rate of poverty incidence falling from 19.98 percent in 2014 to 1.84 percent in 2018.
A USTC faculty member who was appointed first Party secretary of Lianhe village, Xinyao township, Liuzhi special district, named Xu Jingzhi has witnessed and participated in the locale’s journey from poverty to relative prosperity as it develops socially and economically. The temporary official recently noted that education is fundamental to discontinuing the intergenerational transmission of poverty.
“After I began working here, I was able to get a high-end science museum built at Sijiaotian Primary School with the assistance of USTC, which has helped its students improve their science literacy,” Xu explained to a China.org.cn reporter. “I also arranged for USTC’s School of Computer Science and Technology to donate 40 desktop computers to Sijiaotian on Children’s Day [June 1] this year, which has greatly improved teaching conditions at the school and promoted educational modernization.” “We have made it possible for local primary students to participate in USTC’s science and technology week as well so they can experience the enchantment of science. The efforts [help] enable them to see the outside world and stimulate their interest in continuing their educations,” he continued.
USTC has also provided scientific and technological support, which has strengthened industrial development in Liuzhi. Many efforts have been made to advance the district’s agricultural industry in particular.
“We established a 3.33-ha kiwifruit demonstration base in Lianhe and strive to cultivate quality varieties that are suited to the natural conditions present in Liuzhi,” Xu noted. “We installed automated sprinkler irrigation equipment, designed agricultural production tools and machines, and have been creating a mechanized agricultural production model suitable for Guizhou’s mountainous areas.”
Functioning as a barometer that measures the evolution of society and a key part of disseminating information related to practical farming skills, education is a focal point of rural development. Lianhe resident Sha Houxiang was impoverished until recently but is an active learner who has been attending technical training sessions related to the cultivation of kiwifruit that have been made available in his village whenever they are offered.
“I was eventually asked to help take care of Lianhe’s kiwifruit orchards and get paid 1,000 yuan (US$157) a month to do so,” the fruit grower stated.
“With the support of USTC, our company has been able to help Liuzhi Special District become a national county-level demonstration zone, which enables it to receive funding that is used to develop e-commerce programs targeted at its rural communities,” You Feihong, general manager of a Liuzhi-based company known as Shiguang Technology Co. Ltd, mentioned. “The funding has helped make it possible for us to construct an e-commerce warehouse and operation center, provide technical guidance and training with assistance from USTC, and build cold storage facilities, which has extended the sales period of the district’s fresh agricultural products. We have also established a new production line that has boosted employment among Liuzhi’s impoverished residents and its rural laborers in general. It promotes rural vitalization by integrating with the district’s agricultural industry.”
In 2019, USTC launched an e-commerce platform that integrates Lianhe’s kiwifruit, other products produced in the area, marketing, and agricultural income in order to help farmers sell their agricultural products and increase their incomes and achieve the goal of rural vitalization.
“We received a grant from USTC, which enabled us to establish a processing plant [in the district],” Wang Dan, general manager of Guizhou Dashan Weilizui E-commerce Co. Ltd., explained. “The products that it produces contribute to rural vitalization, and the e-commerce programs that I work on create jobs for [villagers] in their local areas, which makes it possible for them to take care of their children and elderly family members.”
“We will continue to leverage the advantages of USTC and use the intellectual support that our teachers provide to help villagers extend their industrial chains and establish local brands,” vowed Lin Gaohua, member of Liuzhi Special District’s Party leadership group and deputy director of its government’s general office.
USTC continues to assist Liuzhi with its primary education and its e-commerce and agricultural industries, which helps it achieve goals associated with its rural vitalization agenda now that poverty has been essentially eliminated in its borders.