CPC officials lead poverty relief work in rural China

Despite being a county government official, Lyu Nanyi spends much of his day working in a rural village.

Lyu, 36, a Party official in Xundian County in southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been doing his best to tackle poverty in Kedu New Village. He goes door to door to find out about people's lives and comes up with ideas to help them get out of poverty.[Special Coverage]

"It has been an unforgettable experience," Lyu told Xinhua, as China observes its national anti-poverty day on Tuesday. "While helping people live better lives, I have also learned a lot about rural life and improved communication with farmers."

Like Lyu, about 500,000 officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have been assigned to complete residencies in more than 100,000 rural villages in China to help tackle poverty. China is committed to bringing all rural people out of poverty by 2020.

Lyu was transferred to the village in 2015 and tasked with poverty relief. In addition to Kedu New Village, he also helps poor villagers in four other villages in Xundian.

According to a Chinese saying, if you want to get rich, you must build roads first. So Lyu started by concentrating on building a road for villagers.

"In the past, there was only a mud road, which released dust into the air on sunny days and became muddy when it was rainy," Lyu recalled. "When villagers wanted to build houses, they did not dare to transport materials by truck because the road condition was too difficult. They had to carry everything by hand."

Now that the road has been paved, Lyu said it makes everything easier.

But many residents remain poor. Lyu said that local resident Teng Zhonglin lost his wife to illness years ago. Teng has to support his child, as well as his father, who suffers from mental illness. The family lives in a mud shack susceptible to rain and wind.

"I tried to help him make more money, such as finding a job in the nearby area," Lyu said. "He also receives subsidies from the government."

Lyu has also helped introduce a flower planting company to Kedu New Village, employing 109 families. Residents are in charge of picking flowers, packaging and spraying pesticide, and each family can make a monthly salary of about 2,000 yuan, in addition to the money from land leased to the company.

Thanks to Lyu's efforts, the families in Kedu are expected to shake off poverty at the end of this year.

Lyu's story shows the CPC's determination to win the battle against poverty, said Yang Lihua, a CPC official in Yunnan.

"Such activities not only help people out of poverty, but also strengthen the grassroots foundation of the CPC," Yang said.

Han Qingxiang, a professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the CPC, said the story shows that the CPC serves the people whole-heartedly.

"The CPC has and will always put people's interests first," Han said.