Paving the way
Lin said Xiadang's case typifies the challenges faced by the authorities in tackling poverty.
With its enclosed, mountainous terrain and undeveloped transportation infrastructure, families faced major difficulties in finding sources of income other than farming on the slopes.
Ye Zhongqiang, Party chief of Xiadang, said that for many low-income families in the township, the challenge of breaking out of poverty lay not only with the geographical limitations they faced but also with a lack of initiative by the villagers at times.
"Some villagers did not finish primary school, and others are illiterate," he said.
An outflow of young and middle-aged workers posed another challenge, with almost 70 percent of the township's population moving to urban areas for work.
Ye said a main aspect of the official poverty alleviation efforts lies in giving the families a stable source of income, adding, "The key is to fully take advantage of the resources in the area."
In Xiadang, the solution has been to add value to what the villagers have done best over generations - grow tea.
The subtropical highlands offered soil rich in the mineral selenium and also zinc, making them ideal areas to cultivate the crop, he said.
In 2014, with help from the authorities and an initial investment of about 4 million yuan from local banks, Xiadang launched a tea cooperative and factory, and registered a brand for its product.
The cooperative united individual growers, standardized the planting process and only allowed the use of organic fertilizers and pesticides.
It came up with a new business model that offered more than 26 hectares of tea plantations to rent for companies and individuals nationwide. For 20,000 yuan, a small plot can be rented for a year to grow tea. In return, clients receive 50 kilograms of tea.
Through a network involving dozens of cameras, clients can monitor the entire tea production process on their cellphones.
"The new business model opened a window for our farmers to boost their income. It is the easiest way we have found to do this," Ye said.
The cooperative can help a tea farmer earn 6,000 yuan a year from a plot covering 0.06 hectares, up from about 1,000 yuan in previous years.
He and his mother used to live on a meager income from a tea plot of just 0.2 hectares. His mother, who has cataracts, is blind and cannot care for herself. Wang Daoquan has long been troubled by alcohol addiction, and his wife and children have left him.
"We were just getting by. It was never easy to live off a small piece of farmland," he said, adding that before 2014 he only made 2,000 yuan a year from selling tea leaves from his plot.
Unlike many of his peers who opted to leave the township for jobs in urban areas, which gave them a better income, Wang Daoquan remained to take care of his mother.
With the launch of the tea factory, he landed a job with a salary of 2,600 yuan a month, making his family one of the 118 households in the township to shake off poverty before last year.
The arrival of the new factory convinced Zhou Jianwei, a 38-year-old resident of the township, to return and work as a tea-making expert.
He said it was almost impossible previously to make a living from selling tea, adding, "The new business offered us a way to work not far from home."
The next goal
Wang Guangchao was one of six Party members who wrote a letter to President Xi on behalf of all villagers in the township, reporting on its success in tackling poverty.
Liu Minghua, another Party member who contributed to the letter, said: "We told the general secretary that Xiadang is different now. The road extends in all directions, and it is much easier to go to schools and receive medical care.
"We also assured him that the people here will continue to work toward a better life, and issued an invitation to him to come back someday."
On Aug 4, Xi replied in a letter, saying he was delighted to hear the news, and offered his congratulations to the villagers.
After 30 years of unremitting efforts, Xiadang has shifted from being almost inaccessible to being easily reached and its residents have an increasing sense of wealth and happiness, Xi said in his letter.
The experience in the township has been a vivid example of the truth in sayings such as, "A slow sparrow should make an early start" and "water droplets drilling through rock", he said.
Xi added that he hopes the villagers will forge ahead with a "persistent spirit, enhance their confidence and make sustained and arduous efforts to consolidate the outcomes of poverty reduction".
He also encouraged them to "explore a path of rural vitalization with Ningde characteristics".
For local officials, Xi's remarks provided the impetus to continue the momentum needed to alleviate poverty.
"Rural vitalization is another test left to us to answer," said Ye, the township Party chief.
Despite the fact that all impoverished families in the area have been lifted out of poverty, there is still a chance they could fall below the poverty line in the future, he said.
"Some of the families have members who are mentally ill, while others are coping with serious diseases. We cannot afford to be complacent," he said.
