Chongqing - The first of a series of press conferences focused on poverty alleviation in the city's 14 counties, and districts kicked off at the Chongqing News Center on Tuesday. The mayor of Wanzhou District gave a thorough report at the event on the efforts and achievements made so far as well as the follow-up plans and measures to lift its remaining poor population out of poverty.
Lie Hongyan (middle), mayor of Wanzhou District attending the press conference.
Wanzhou is among the first in Chongqing to be removed from the country's list of impoverished counties and districts and has brought about outstanding results in its poverty alleviation efforts through a wide range of innovative outreach programs and poverty relief policies, according to Lie Hongyan, head of the district government and deputy secretary of the CPC district committee.
"All 140 poverty-stricken villages in Wanzhou have been taken off of the list, and 34,623 poor households or 106,461 poor villagers have been lifted out of poverty, with the poverty occurrence rate dropping to a mere 0.21%," said Lie at the press conference.
A scene of the newly built Murun Hog Farm in Anxi Village, Changling Township, Wanzhou.
Wanzhou resorted to mechanism innovation for approaching poverty alleviation to a higher standard. The "professional to household" policy sent out more than 6,000 teachers, 2,500 doctors, 200 agricultural experts, and 75 engineering technicians to assist in such areas as education, healthcare, farming and housing; the "twenty billion projects" created a hog farm industry with an annual production capacity of over one million pigs, and an orchard plantation with an area of over 840,000 mu; the "dual rural beauty" movement also helped to create 338,000 mu of economic fruit trees, 81 rural beauty demonstration sites, and 1,500 rural beauty courtyards, with 29 villages being awarded the city's first batch of rural beauty villages.
A scene from the starting ceremony of the 2019 Three Gorges Citrus Fruit International Trade Fair.
"The 22 measures to counter the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on poverty alleviation were promptly formulated and rigorously implemented," added Lie. "We allocated employment resources for all of the district's 47,121 labor-capable impoverished locals, pushed forward the three safety projects for poverty alleviation and work resumption on schedule, and greatly broadened the distribution channel for poverty relief products through the online 2020 Three Gorges Citrus Fruit International Trade Fair."
A folding screen is displaying Wanzhou's progress and achievements in poverty alleviation.
The war on poverty alleviation and the aim to build a moderately prosperous society in all aspects have come to the final stage in the year 2020. To better promote and publicize the poverty relief progress and achievements in the city's 14 impoverished counties and districts, the Chongqing Municipal Information Office and the Chongqing Municipal Poverty Alleviation Office are to launch a series of press conferences focused on each county and district's poverty alleviation efforts and achievements.
From Aug. 27 to Oct. 20, the other 13 counties and districts of Qijiang, Wulong, Fengdu, Xiushan, Kaizhou, Yunyang, Wushan, Fengjie, Shizhu, Chengkou, Wuxi, Youyang, and Pengshui will also come forward and hold press conferences on their progress in poverty alleviation.