The road from poverty to prosperity in Xibaipo

The whole Nanwendu village, which is three kilometres away from Xibaipo, and its more than 200 households were lifted out of poverty at the end of 2018. [Photo: China Plus/Li Feng]

There are three major battles in China, and they all need to be won.

Preventing and defusing financial risk is one. Controlling pollution is another. And today we look at the third – alleviating poverty, an issue that's attracted worldwide attention.

Since 2012, when the 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China was held, China has pulled 80 million people above the poverty line. This has been a remarkable achievement – and one example of the success is Pingshan County, in north China's Hebei Province.

Hello and welcome to Selfie, the show that gets to the heart of Chinese society, life and the economy. I'm Tony Reid. In this edition of Selfie, China Plus's Wang Lei takes us to the old revolutionary base of Xibaipo and surrounding villages in Pingshan County. First, we go to Nanwendu village to see how the village has transformed from poverty to prosperity thanks to the introduction of the grape-growing industry.

Then we'll head to the neighbouring villages in Xibaipo to see how young people there are tapping into the opportunities brought about by the growth of the tourism industry there.

All this is coming up on Selfie, stay with us!

You are listening to Selfie, I'm Tony Reid.

Part1. The road to prosperity in Nanwendu village

It was the last Rural Command Center of the Communist Party of China before the national victory was won seventy years ago. Xibaipo saw the convening of the national land conference in 1947. The battles of Liaoshen, Huaihai and Pingjin from 1948 to early 1949 were planned and commanded there and in October, the People's Republic of China was founded. Xibaipo is thus known as the village where New China came from.

Nanwendu village is about three kilometres away from Xibaipo. The whole village and its more than 200 households were lifted out of poverty at the end of 2018. They now live in brick courtyards, free from worrying about whether they have enough food to eat and can clothe themselves. Here is Wang Lei with the report.

Nanwendu village has seen a lot of changes since the poverty relief work team from the Shijiazhuang Industry and Commerce Federation arrived three years ago.[Photo: China Plus/Qiao Quanxing]

Walking in the village of Nanwendu, one can see the neat, smooth cement road, fish ponds, green trees everywhere, and a beautiful village square for holding entertainment activities. One female villager explains that several years ago, the village was totally different.

The changes can be tracked back to three years ago, in the spring of 2016, when the poverty relief work team from the Shijiazhuang Industry and Commerce Federation came to the village, which has 204 households with some 700 people. The villagers have lived on farming for generation after generation. Three years ago, sixty-four households,and about a third of the villagers, were registered as low income families.

Something needed to be done. Village secretary Zhang Duanshu and the poverty relief work team decided to introduce enterprise investment to the village. They wanted to combine the land and mountain forest resources to launch a rural ecological sightseeing project, with the idea of lifting the villagers out of poverty through tourism.

To get villagers on board with their scheme, members of the poverty relief team had to walk from household to household, talking to the villagers, trying to build their confidence and change their mindsets. Zhang Duanshu says it took a lot of persuasion because understandably, people have questions and doubts, fearing they will be losing their land after the transfer.

As an old revolutionary base, Xibaipo became a national-level tourist attraction in 2011. Through their hard work, Zhang Duanshu and his poverty relief work team succeeded in drawing investors for the village, which is three kilometres' away from Xibaipo. Hebei Baisheng Agriculture Development decided to invest in the village as a modern rural tourist project. Here is project manager Yang Guang from the company.

As part of this modern rural tourist project, a 3000-square-metre plastic greenhouse had been built by the end of 2018. Inside the ecological greenhouse were apple trees, cherry trees, and grapevines. The river which flows around the village has been cleaned. The bridge, roads and cellars have been built. A patch of low-lying land on the south of the village which had been deserted has been transformed into a fish and lotus pond. A modern rural tourism industry which combines plantation and recreation has been built in the village.

Zhang Ning, chairman of the board of directors of Hebei Baisheng, says many of those who work in the vineyard development zone are villagers in their 40s to 60s. He says with the industry support, the villagers don't have to put all their eggs in one basket because they now also earn money from growing grapes.

The villager Fan Chunxi is given the job of informing people about fire prevention in the village so that he can earn a living while taking care of his wife.[Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

The family of forty-nine-year-old Fan Chunxi was once poverty-stricken. His wife has had a brain disease for sixteen years and needs daily care. He is given the job of collecting garbage, cleaning roads, and informing people about fire prevention in the village so that he can earn a living while taking care of his wife.

Village secretary Zhang Duanshu says people from the neighbouring villages have also come to work.

The last household in the village to throw off the chains of poverty was Fan Laisheng and his daughter. Fan Laisheng has a hand disability and can't do heavy work. With the help of the poverty relief work team, Fan Laisheng was lifted out of poverty last year. He's now planted an apple tree sapling in front of his newly-built brick house.

The focus of Zhang Duanshu and his poverty relief work team is now poverty prevention as opposed to poverty relief. Nowadays, Xibaipo draws more than five million tourists every year. The village secretary believes that with the growth of tourism, people in Nanwendu will have better lives.

Zhang Duanshu says with income coming from tourism, the villagers will be free from worries when the older members of the family get ill, or the young ones reach schooling age. He believes the villagers' wellbeing can only be guaranteed with development.

Part2. The growth of tourism draws young people back to Xibaipo

In recent years, Pingshan County, where Xibaipo is, has implemented a strategy to build a prosperous county through tourism. This has attracted many young people to come back to their home town to start businesses. Here is Wang Lei with more of the story.

Pingshan County is rich in cultural and tourist attractions. The county boasts more than 200 red revolutionary sites and hundreds of natural scenic spots. In 2018, the County received more than 17 million tourists, an increase of 30% over the previous year. Among all the tourist resorts, Xibaipo received more than five million visitors last year. Tourism has become a local pillar industry.

Qi Nana opened the first family hotel in Liangjiagou village which is near Xibaipo.[Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

Qi Nana is from Liangjiagou village in the township of Xibaipo. She and her husband once worked in Beijing in the real estate sector. Seeing the rapid development of the tourism industry in their hometown, they decided to come back to start their own business. In 2012, she opened the first family hotel in the village.

Nowadays, in Liangjiagou village, there are dozens of family hotels. While managing the family hotel, Qi Nana has time to take care of her daughter and son. Her husband also came back to the village and drives sightseeing cars in the Xibaipo tourist site. The young couple can earn some 100 thousand yuan or 15 thousand US dollars a year. They have built a two-storey building and bought a car. But most importantly, the whole family live together and their dream is to buy a new house in Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei Province.

Qi Nana is able to take care of her daughter and son while managing the family hotel. [Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

Director of the Liangjiagou village committee Han Zhiping says most of the villagers go in for the hospitality industry, providing food, accommodation or selling souvenirs to tourists. The villagers have an annual income of dozens of thousand yuan or several thousand US dollars on average.

Pingshan County's strategy to improve the environment and build a prosperous country with tourism resulted in a 12.9 billion yuan or two billion US dollar revenue from tourism last year, an increase of 35% over the year before.

Wang Wei opened a martial arts-themed restaurant in the Hongyagu Scenic Spot in Pingshan County. [Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

Among the young people coming back is Wang Wei, founder of a martial arts-themed restaurant in the Hongyagu Scenic Spot in Pingshan County. The décor and dishes in the restaurant can all be traced back to popular Chinese martial arts novels. She says her business is very prosperous and the turnover reached 1.5 million yuan or 220 thousand US dollars last year thanks to the booming local tourism industry.

The décor and dishes in Wang Wei’s restaurant can all be traced back to popular Chinese martial arts novels. [Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

Wang Wei's restaurant is in the Hongyagu tourist resort in Pingshan County. The tourist resort boasts Hongya ancient town, a ski resort, the Hongya Academy of Classical Learning, and a 488-meter-long glass suspension bridge. With various tourist products, the Hongyagu tourist resort has become a new highlight in the local tourism

The décor and dishes in Wang Wei’s restaurant can all be traced back to popular Chinese martial arts novels. [Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

Before coming back to her hometown, Wang Wei and her husband had been working in the hotel management industry for twelve years in east China's Zhejiang Province, where there are plenty of tourist attractions. Two years ago, seeing the great potential in tourist development in her home town, Wang Wei proposed starting a business in Pingshan County, but her husband was against the idea.

It took three years before the Hongyagu tourist resort was completed in 2016. During this time, Wang Wei and her husband came back and made several research trips, comparing the Hongyagu tourist resort with other scenic spots in Zhejiang. Finally her husband was convinced. At the end of 2017, the couple came to Hongyagu to open their martial-arts-themed restaurant. They wanted to make sure of the quality of the dishes but also tried to provide an innovative service.

Wang Wei says she and her husband try their best to upgrade their service so as to enable the visitors to have an enjoyable experience in their restaurant. [Photo: China Plus/Wang Lei]

The completion of the Hongyagu Tourist Resort has sped up infrastructure construction in the area. The high-standard tarmac road paid for by the enterprise has completely solved the problem of traffic difficulties encountered by the neighbouring six villages. Road building has also promoted the development of farm houses, hotels, restaurants, and stores. So far, the Hongyagu Tourist Resort has more than 320 staff members and 52 businesses. Most of the business owners are local people like Wang Wei. Wang Weili is Director of the Culture, Broadcasting and TV, Sports and Tourism Bureau of Pingshan County. She says they are taking various measures to encourage young people to return to their home town to start businesses and promote rural revitalization.

So far, Pingshan County has seen the rise of 50 villages that specialize in tourism, more than 600 farm houses, and enterprises that go in for featured farming, sightseeing, fruit picking, and leisure. In the future, Pingshan County will promote new forms of tourism like health-and-fitness and culture-related industries, making it even more attractive to young people to open up businesses and fulfill their dreams.

The fight against poverty keeps going and has entered a key stage. Ever since China implemented its policy of targeted poverty reduction six years ago, the number of China's poor has gone down from 99 million in 2012 to 16 million in 2018. The three years from 2018 to 2020 were set by the Chinese government as the three action years to battle poverty. It is the government's target that by 2020, there should be no rural poor in China. Efforts from all walks of society have been called upon to wage war in a battle that China must win.

For more information, please click the audio above to find out more about the show and the road from poverty to prosperity in Xibaipo.