The vernal breeze was swaying the fields and busy figures across Liangfeng Village, Zhouxi Township, Chengkou County, in the late spring. Chongqing has ameliorated the implementation of the poverty alleviation policy and further aroused people’s spontaneous tendency for shaking off poverty and achieving prosperity by publicity and education, policy guidance, demonstration, and giving full play to governmental and non-governmental regulations.

Tan Xianli: Happiness should be won

Tan Xianli from Village Community 4 lives in a new house with a clean yard and neat furnishings by the road, which, unexpectedly, is the home to three bachelors.

Tan Xianli is 80 years old, and his wife deceased a few decades ago. His two single sons are now some 40 or 50 years old. The house was messy before: ash was everywhere, the hoe stood beside food pots, and the stack of dirty bowls piled on the stove was washed only when used up.

In early 2017, Tan Xianli’s family moved to the new house in the centralized settlement, yet with old bad habits unchanged. The village officials kept inculcating a good lifestyle in them, and Party members helped clean the house up as volunteers.

Gradually, the family changed: They started to eat over the table and always keep the tables and stools bright and clean.

With the help from the village government, Tan plants Chinese medicinal materials over a land 5 or 6 mu wide and keeps 18 barrels of Chinese honeybees. His two sons found some odd jobs in local projects. The family now earns more than 30,000 yuan a year.

“We did not know how to live well and always looked for the next life.” Tan Xianli, however, does not think so now, “We have better days before us, and I want to live longer!”

Cheng Deping: Policy matters but self-reliance is more important

Cheng Deping becomes busy into the spring: He has to feed and graze sheep, dig bamboo shoots, and tend the medicinal plants and Chinese honeybees. According to his neighbors, Cheng has totally changed in the past two years.

Previously, Cheng Deping often visited the village committee office and blamed the officials for being unfair. He insisted that he could not get rid of poverty for lack of policies.

In 2017, the cultivation of Chinese medicinal materials and bamboo shoots was identified as the pillar industry of the village. Later his house was frequently visited by village officials for publicizing the poverty relief policy. He was encouraged to “work more to earn more” and taught cultivation techniques.

In the past two years, Cheng Deping has opened up an area of 6,667m² for the cultivation of herbs and kept 27 sheep and nearly 50 barrels of bees. He has also served as a bricklayer in surrounding towns. Now he comes out top in Village Community 2 in terms of annual income.

He does not visit the village committee office much now. All he talks about in the WeChat group is how he grows his business. “I am busy enough now. I would rather do more to earn a good reputation than badgering the officials for beneficial policies.”