Value Untapped

by Wen Qing

Every summer， Fengdu， a county in Chongqing Municipality in southwestern China， astonishes visitors with its stunning scenery： a vibrant leafy blanket of trees covers the surrounding mountains while sparkling rivers trickle through deep ravines under the canopy of a clear blue sky specked with white clouds. When rain arrives， a fine mist covers the landscape， making it seem like a traditional Chinese painting.

Ironically， the landscape added to local peoples woes in the past. The towering mountains and steep gorges made the county difficult to reach， and a lack of roads and transport led to a dearth of businesses and factories， which meant very few employment opportunities. The lack of arable land meant farmers could not feed themselves solely through agriculture. Due to all these factors， Fengdus economy remained stagnant for decades.

Like Fengdu， many places in China have remained trapped in poverty due to disadvantageous geography. It is incredibly difficult for the people living in such places to develop their economy from within because they lack advanced concepts and necessary investment.

However， after the Chinese government set 2020 as the deadline to completely eradicate poverty， the national taskforce for poverty alleviation identified counties with the weakest economies and began working to pull them out of poverty with targeted measures and funds. Fengdu was one of these counties.

A New Life

The changes in Zhang Jishengs life mirror the changes that transformed Fengdu. The 53-year-old formerly worked as a migrant laborer in developed southeastern provinces. But after his wife developed psychological problems in 2015， he came back to look after his family. He started planting corn to earn a living， but the income of 2，000 to 3，000 yuan （US$291-436） per year was woefully insufficient.

To make things worse， his beloved son was also diagnosed with the same condition as his wife， which made Zhang begin to drift to a dark place.“I contemplated suicide，” he admitted. “Dying seemed easier than enduring the torture that life had become.”

At this critical juncture， the local committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC） and the local poverty alleviation group stepped in. “We raised the money to send Zhang Jishengs son to the hospital，” reported Zhang Yuqun， a leader of the poverty alleviation group. “He only had to cover about 10 percent of the costs.”

Zhang Yuqun has been living in the area for only a short time. She was dispatched to Fengdu specifically to help with poverty alleviation work. She is one of over 459，000 officials and personnel from state-owned enterprises and public institutions across China to have accepted assignments in regions in poverty since 2015.