Yang Changjia, Party secretary of Dongyue Village, Guangshan County, said with great excitement: "The 17th of September, 2019, is a day I will remember all my life. General Secretary Xi Jinping came to our village to look into efforts at poverty alleviation and industrial development. He encouraged us to implement the Party's policies and work toward poverty alleviation."

General Secretary Xi Jinping greeting residents of Dongyue Village, Wenshu Township, Guangshan County


General Secretary Xi Jinping inspecting at Dongyue Village

In the Cultural Centre of Dongyue Village, Yang Changjia, a student of Guangshan RTVU (a branch of Henan RTVU), and Party secretary of Dongyue Village, reported to general secretary Xi Jinping about how economic development and poverty alleviation have been handled there.

Dongyue Village used to be below the national poverty level, having 145 low-income households, totaling 585 people, among its 2,000 residents. In recent years, however, the village has helped alleviate this through a programme to set up family farms, plant seedlings and flowers, grow organic rice and tea, and raise pheasants, black pigs, ducks and shrimp. Through the village’s e-commerce centre, these products are sold all over the country. In 2018, the village farmers had an average per-capita disposable income of RMB 11,653, placing them above the poverty line. Dongyue Village was named a "Traditional Chinese Village" by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China (MHURD), and a Henan Province "Historical and Cultural Village" and "Famous Landscape Tourism Village" by the Henan Provincial Government. It was commended by the Henan Provincial and Xinyang Municipal committees as a "Demonstration Village for Poverty Alleviation in Xinyang City".

After the visit, Yang Changjia called Guangshan RTVU immediately to report it, and to attribute his achievements to what he learned there, as well as through the OUC “Long March Belt” educational project targeting poverty in Guangshan. Yang Changjia is an outstanding Guangshan RTVU student, having received an OUC junior-college degree in Facility Agriculture Technology in July 2011, and then enrolling in the OUC's Administrative Management undergraduate programme in the spring of 2018. He says that, among the cadres in the village, three are OUC graduates, and they will make good use of their learning to help the village become wealthier.

As of September 2019, the OUC had invested more than RMB 1.2 million in Guangshan County, directly benefiting 639 people. Over RMB 400,000 of this was to subsidise 166 local cadres and low-income workers to take junior-college and undergraduate courses at the OUC. Nearly RMB 200,000 was invested in scholarships for 323 OUC students, and more than RMB 110,000 to train 150 Guangshan County farmers in oil tea, tea, and flower/tree technology. The OUC has also helped enhance local infrastructure, investing RMB 480,000 in building a cloud classroom, a computer room, a national digital-learning resource-centre demonstration site, and the OUC-Taofen Book House, valued at RMB 200,000 (the total value of the books sold or published).

Since the official launch of the OUC “Long March Belt” project in April 2017, the OUC has worked to help deal with poverty in the areas on the route of the famous Long March. To this point, the OUC has invested more than RMB 35 million, benefiting more than 31,000 low-income residents and rural students, and enhancing schools and study centres.

OUC “Long March Belt” educational project targeting poverty - opening ceremony of the training class on oil-tea planting in Dongyue Village


OUC “Long March Belt” project, opening of the training class on flower planting in Guangshan County


OUC “Long March Belt” project, opening ceremony, Spring 2019, Guangshan County


Guangshan County computer room, sponsored by the OUC “Long March Belt” project

By Yu Zhangli, OUC; Yang Ping, Guangshan RTVU

Some photos reprinted from Xinhuanet