Peng Xiaying: Helping Villagers Escape Poverty

Peng Xiaying [Photo Supplied by Fan Wenjun]

Peng Xiaying, a resident of Shenshan, a village in Jinggangshan, a city in East China's Jiangxi Province, will never forget February 2, 2016. That was the day when Chinese President Xi Jinping walked into her house. Xi visited her during his inspection tour to Shenshan. Xi's words of encouragement kindled Peng's enthusiasm to help others escape poverty through hard work.

Soon after President Xi visited Shenshan, she used her savings, with her family's help, to open a restaurant that offered farm-fresh food. Peng and her family members have attached great importance to guaranteeing the quality of their foods. More importantly, they have adhered to the principle of being honest when providing services to customers. As a result, their business has generated considerable profits.

Peng and her husband also set up a store, in which they sell their home-made products (such as preserved fruits, bacon and dried bamboo shoots). Peng and Zhang Chengde, her husband, also sell their bamboo products and bonsai trees. Their products are generally well received by visitors from different regions of the country.

In 2017, Peng told the village's leaders she and her husband (who is disabled) would like to give up his basic living allowance. Peng told the leaders, "Since President Xi visited us, many visitors have had meals in our restaurant. Now that we are better off, we would like to leave the quota (of people) for the allowance to other villagers, who are poor."

Peng has been doing her best to help the villagers get rich. In addition to sharing information about her customers with other restaurants' owners, she has popularized information about local tourist attractions among visitors.

In 2017, Peng and several other villagers established Shenshan's Tourism Management Association, to help villagers improve their ability to receive visitors. As the association has attracted an increasing number of visitors to Shenshan, many members have attained wealth by providing agri-entertainment services, by offering a variety of "entertainment farming" options, such as crop patches, farm stores and agricultural festivals. Almost all of the villagers had escaped poverty by 2017.

(Women of China)