The tug out of poverty

A mother walks with her children on a concrete road at Datou village on March 26. JIANG WENYAO/XINHUA

According to the local government, each villager had 0.01 hectares of arable land and 1,600 yuan of disposable income in 2016. Some of them lived in wooden houses covered in plastic and most villagers did not understand Mandarin.

In 2017, the local government dispatched a working team to help lift the villagers out of poverty.

They guided the villagers to level arable land, channel tap water into houses, surface village roads, and built playrooms, public toilets and a public square for outdoor activities. All the locals moved into a new apartment complex in 2017.

The working team has also been helping the locals to cultivate crops. They guided the villagers to plant black fungus and tea, and introduced them to leading agricultural enterprises to help with sales of their harvest. The local government said they encouraged the locals to also develop and plant rice and corn, and breed fish, pigs and chickens.