Tackling Hardship

In July 2015, the International Department of the CPC Central Committee dispatched Gao Yuqi to serve as first secretary in Koutou village, Koutou town, Xingtang county, Hebei province. Gao became the village's first ever first secretary.

Koutou village is located at the entrance of the Taihang Mountains and has more hills and less arable land. Constrained by natural conditions and various other factors, the village had no concrete roads, street lamps, irrigation channels or greenhouses. One out of three villagers lived below the poverty line, and many suffered from disabilities. The per capita annual income was less than US $340.

Once Gao arrived, she visited every single poor household in the village, sat face to face with the villagers in their homes to learn about their difficulties, and worked with them in the fields.

After Gao had gained a thorough understanding of the village, she organized members of the Party branch committee and the villagers' committee in the village to map out a suitable development approach. Their strategy would allow the village to develop under the leadership of the CPC and to shake off poverty by strengthening its infrastructures and developing its own industries.

During her two-year tenure as a resident official, Gao helped the village build infrastructure for water, electricity, road and telecommunication, and the village's first ever cherry farm, and later several poultry farms. The villagers' living standards have been significantly improved and their home has taken on a new look ever since.

Leaping Forward

As the baton of resident official was passed on, Li Shuangwu, the second first secretary dispatched by the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, arrived in Dongjingdi village, Xingtang county in July 2017. When Li arrived, Dongjingdi was a poverty-stricken village with muddy roads and barren fields.

Thanks to Li's planning and hard work, the village took on a new look in merely two years. Li was able to secure the village more than 230 million yuan in investment, and secured more than 50 million yuan in government funds and donations. A total of 35 industrial projects had been built for poverty alleviation.

By the end of 2018 before Li's tenure as a resident official was over, the village had successfully lifted itself out of poverty. Not a single villager now lives below the poverty line in Dongjingdi village.