The rolling Wumeng mountains look majestic in the rain. On August 15 and 16, Tang Fuping, China Minmetals’ Chairman and Party Group Secretary, made a special trip to Yiliang County in Yunnan Province with which China Minmetals has been paired in poverty reduction. He braved the rain to conduct an on-site investigation of poverty alleviation there.
Yiliang County is located in the interior of Mount Wumeng at the junction of eight counties in the three provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guizhou. Its mountainous areas cover more than 96% of the county. High mountains and steep ravines make up its fragmented landforms. Due to frequent natural disasters such as hail, flood, landslides, mudslides, and earthquakes, the living environment is poor. Fewer efforts in the past lead to the weak infrastructure. The county covers an area of 2,804 square kilometers where there are 132 administrative villages under 15 townships and towns. Of 630,000 locals, 13.88% belong to 20 ethnic minorities including Yi, Miao, and Hui. The county is an extremely poor one at the national level where poverty alleviation remains a formidable task. How are poverty alleviation projects implemented by China Minmetals? How shall we help Yiliang County get out of poverty in a better and faster manner? What are the difficulties and demands for villagers to get rid of poverty? These are important problems to be addressed in the poverty reduction investigation conducted by Tang Fuping.
During the investigation, Tang visited Heping Village, Houjie Village and Diwu Village in Qiaoshan Town to learn about the development-oriented poverty alleviation work in Yiliang County. After listening to the working report on conditions and poverty reduction in Yiliang County, Mr. Tang stressed that winning the battle against poverty by 2020 is a solemn commitment made by the CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping as its core. It is the bottom-line goal of finishing building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and also the most arduous and glorious task of historic significance. As a central enterprise, China Minmetals needs to thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, especially Xi Jinping’s strategy of development-oriented poverty alleviation. By doing so, it will help its corresponding counties to win the battle against poverty as an important task to fulfill its political, economic and social responsibilities. Therefore, it is important to increase investment in poverty alleviation, give full play to the enterprise’s capabilities, focus on targeted poverty alleviation, and double efforts to cope with the problem of long-term development in poor areas.
After investigating Heping Primary School and Diwu Primary School to which the corporation directly allocated funds, Mr. Tang affirmed the progress of construction projects of their facilities. He said that a good learning environment is important for children to study in village-based primary schools and attend high school in towns. No matter how poor we are, we can never neglect education; and no matter how tough things are, we can never allow children to suffer. If children are admitted to universities, it is of great significance to rural families, especially poor households registered in records. In recent years, China Minmetals has given high priority to the improvement of educational facilities in corresponding areas. In the future, it will continue to commit itself to develop education and prevent the transfer of poverty across generations in accordance with the principle of “poverty alleviation requiring a change of attitude and the support of education.” After learning about the employment situation of some local students and poor households registered in records, Tang pointed out that China Minmetals is expanding its business in Yunnan and relevant enterprises need to rely on their professional advantages to improve the skill level of poor labor forces and make contributions to poverty alleviation by creating new jobs.
Due to shortage of water or substandard water in Qiaoshan Town, Yiliang County, tens of thousands of villagers have found it difficult to get drinking water, which seriously endangers the health of local people and restricts the local economic and social development. For this reason, Tang Fuping led his team to Houjie Village to investigate a water diversion project on the site. Mr. Tang asked about details of the project ranging from shortage of water to local geological structures and from the construction scheme to funding budgets. He stressed that the overall goal put forward by the CPC Central Committee for development-oriented poverty alleviation is to guarantee the basic needs of food and clothing for those living in poverty and ensure that they have proper access to compulsory education, medical care, and safe housing. The water diversion project in Qiaoshan Town can solve the drinking water problem that has troubled local areas for many years. It can also realize the effects of agricultural irrigation. China Minmetals will appropriate funds to assist Yiliang county in initiating the project. In the future, regarding funding assistance projects, the company will give higher priority to livelihood projects urgently needed for local people and those driving the development of local industries, giving an impetus to targeted areas to shake off poverty as scheduled.
“How many people in your family? Where do your children go to school? How about the allowance? How do you get drinking water?” Tang Fuping also went into poor households to examine their living environment and inquire about their household income and expenditure and main causes of poverty. After learning of the difficulty that Peng Lihua and his wife, a 75-year-old couple living in extremely poor conditions, raised their three grandchildren on their own after the death of their son, Mr. Tang holding the hands of Mr. Peng said, “Your family is very poor, and life is not easy. Now, Party organizations and governments at all levels, supported by the poverty alleviation policy of the central government, are committed to lifting you out of poverty. I hope you are healthy so that you can bring up your grandchildren. The better your offspring, the better your family. I sincerely wish you well!” After the visit, Tang gave a living allowance to the Peng family.
The investigation was in the rainy season, and targeted projects for poverty reduction were all carried out in the mountains. On the evening of August 15, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake hit Weining County in Bijie City, Guizhou Province, which is adjacent to Yiliang County, causing large-scale loose rocks in surrounding mountainous areas. On August 16 when heavy rain poured down in Zhaotong City, the investigation team was marching into rolling mountains. Mountain torrents, mudslides and landslides occurred from time to time. Danger occurred incessantly. The road was blocked, tires were punctured by rocks, and people were injured by falling rocks. Facing difficulties, everyone was fearless, which demonstrates the solid and steady progress of the poverty alleviation work of China Minmetals.
With great power, there must also come great responsibility. Helping to lift targeted areas out of poverty is not only to implement requirements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council but also to fulfill the mission of central enterprises shouldering their social responsibilities. Since 2002, the headquarters of China Minmetals has assisted with poverty reduction in some poor counties including Zhenxiong County, Yiliang County and Weixin County in Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province; Huayuan County in Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province; Yanhe County and Dejiang County in Tongren City, Guizhou Province; and Qilian County in Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Over the past sixteen years, it has appointed 36 cadres to temporary posts working on poverty alleviation in the 7 counties above. These cadres have carried out a lot of work in attracting foreign investment, exporting labor services, learning and training, and helping the needy. China Minmetals has provided direct financial assistance for the counties and distributed “love packages” annually. It has directly invested and mobilized employees to donate more than 120 million yuan in poverty relief, dedicating their boundless love to poverty alleviation and lending a helping hand to people in poverty-stricken areas to realize the Chinese Dream of people living a better life.
Wang Wenhai and Wang Yunlin, heads of relevant departments of China Minmetals, also participated in the investigation.
