Chengxian villager Su Yanyan shows her online store on her smartphone. Many local famers have improved their standards of living through e-commerce. Xiao Zhengqiang/Xinhua
Lasting solutions
Zhang Wengang, deputy head of Gongchang, said that before the project began, every person in the county classified as impoverished was allotted the national 100 yuan minimum monthly living allowance, which was a drain on resources and provided no lasting solutions.
Fang's family has enjoyed support from similar programs organized by different levels of the local government, which has been working to alleviate poverty since 2013, when President Xi Jinping visited the region and demanded better conditions for the rural poor.
Gansu has a population of nearly 26 million, and at the time of Xi's visit nearly 7 million people had been assessed as living in poverty. By the end of last year, after the measures started to take effect, the number had fallen to about 3 million, a step towards achieving the target of zero poverty nationwide by 2020, as outlined in the 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-20).
To ensure resources are targeted at those in greatest need, the Gansu government intends to build a comprehensive database of the provincial poor. The guaranteed minimum income is being extended to a larger number of families, and a range of new social security policies is being introduced in areas such as education, health and housing.
"When I was assigned to my post nine years ago, I realized that conditions have remained unchanged for decades in some mountain villages," said Diao Xiaoling, a researcher with the publicity department of the Gansu office of poverty alleviation and development. "Now, things have really changed: people no longer dress in tattered clothes, houses are being renovated, residents are being relocated and new infrastructure is under construction - even people's attitudes have changed."
Online opportunities
Until recently, Zeng Xueyi didn't know how to access online shopping portals on his low-end smartphone. Since his teenage years, the 60-year-old resident of Chengxian county in the city of Longnan, has earned a living by raising honeybees and selling the honey to his neighbors.
