Tourism helps villagers climb out of poverty

Tailored policies

Changes in Atuleer village are in a line with discussion President Xi Jinping had on March 8, 2017, with delegates from Sichuan during the annual National People's Congress session in Beijing.

Having learned about the difficult lives of residents, Xi told the delegates that poverty reduction requires tailored policies and precise measures, and sometimes patience and meticulous accuracy - like "doing embroidery".

Using such measures, Sichuan reduced its number of poor people from 6.25 million in 2013 to 710,000 at the end of last year.

"As one of the main battlefields for poverty reduction, Sichuan was one of the provinces with many poor people in 2013," said Peng Qinghua, secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Thanks to the targeted measures, it has since reduced the number of poor people by 1.1 million a year on average, Peng said.

Nanjiang county, which belongs to the Qinling-Dabashan Mountain Area, a key area for poverty alleviation identified by the Central government, has benefited from policies aimed at improving the road network and promoting locally produced agricultural goods.

Nanjiang has given priority to infrastructure construction, building paved roads that crisscross the county.

He Bo, an officer with the county government information office, said it now has 5,435 km of paved roads, with 94 percent of them in the countryside, and every village is now connected by one.

Ninety-five percent of the land in Nanjiang is mountainous and the improved roads have facilitated the sales of local products like walnuts, selenium tea and honeysuckle to the outside world, while raising farmers' incomes.

Walnuts from Nanjiang, renowned for having 22 mineral elements, thin shells and a meaty pulp, are in high demand. Such are Nanjiang walnuts' reputation for quality, that sellers certify their origin.

The county's soil is rich in selenium, a trace element with antioxidant properties and Nanjiang produces around 3 million kilograms of selenium tea a year.

The county's honeysuckle, which is said to reduce heat and clear toxins from the body, has also obtained geographic certification.

The Institute of Political Science of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences last year hailed the county's green development as a role model for 74 other counties and districts in the less-developed Qinling-Dabashan Mountain Area, as well as for most other mountain communities across the country.

The per capita disposable income of its 700,000 residents rose from 131 yuan in 1978 to nearly 16,890 yuan in 2017.

Xinhua contributed to this story.