Hitting the Bull's-Eye

Songs. Livestreams. Ethnic Miao embroidery. The village where President Xi Jinping's targeted poverty alleviation strategy was first articulated in 2013 serves as a microcosm for the country, as China seeks to eradicate extreme poverty by year-end.

Jiao Jiao cups her hands around her mouth and inhales a deep gulp of crisp morning air, before blasting a high-pitched bolt of undulating and rhythmic notes into the surrounding mountain scenery.

Dressed head-to-foot in traditional ethnic Miao clothing, all intricately hand-stitched, colorful and bursting with birds and bright flowers, Jiao is one of many young people who have returned to the village of Shibadong in the high mountains of Hunan Province to grasp new opportunities.

Prior to 2013, Shibadong Village was an isolated backwater accessed only by dirt track and with land too steep to farm anything of value on, and barely enough crops to sustain the locals let alone turn a buck.

But today all that has changed. The village, with its refurbished traditional wooden buildings, new roads and, most importantly, new and thriving local industries, has become a model for other less well-off places in China to follow.

"Songs play an important role in Miao culture, so I decided to leave home and study performing arts at university in the city," Jiao says. "But today, the village has been rejuvenated, and so I've come back to be with my family and start a business."

And what type of idyllic, rural business has she come back to? Well, it's not what you'd expect. Jiao, a humble and charismatic 24-year-old, has found fame online in China for her livestreams promoting the sales of yellow peaches grown in Shibadong.

I met Jiao as part of a tour of rural villages across the country that have thrown off the shackles of poverty and turned their fortunes around in recent years.

In 2013, President Xi Jinping visited Shibadong and met with the local people. It is there that the concept of targeted poverty alleviation was first raised, with Xi stressing that, for each individual circumstance of poverty, there must be a unique and individual solution.

So Shibadong decided to use what little land it had to plant yellow peaches because of their potential for a rich yield and the suitability of the soil.

I decided to join Jiao during one of her livestreams and learned very quickly that there is an art to keeping a live audience entertained and, what's more, drumming up sales.

In the humid Hunan heat, I floundered like a fish out of water, as Jiao thrived, exuding her passion for not just her hometown but also the wealth it has to offer those outside.

She later invites me to share dinner with her family and friends at their home. The views are spectacular. Lush green paddy fields trail off into the mist that barely disguises the sheer cliffs on the other side of the valley.

As I descend the steep steps to Jiao's home, I am greeted by a gang of local children, predominantly girls between ages 5 and 7. They are intrigued by my presence and immediately begin a playful game of 20 questions. This must be Shibadong's village security team.

"What's your name?"

"Where are you from?"

"What does money look like in your country?"

The game quickly evolves into a language lesson, with the girls shouting out words in the Miao language, only for me to guess the answer in Mandarin Chinese. I fail constantly, to the raucous amusement and delight of the children.

Sadly, pulled away and back to business, at dinner I learn that it's not just peaches that have brought prosperity to Shibadong.

"Shibadong has also developed a growing tourism industry on the back of our beautiful rural surroundings and our unique cultural heritage," Shi Jiajie, manager of Shibadong's rural tourism company, tells me over dinner.

"Look at the Miao dress Jiao Jiao is wearing. We used to make this just for ourselves, but now we have developed an industry and sell our special clothes to those outside."

The following day, I am treated to a special workshop on miaoxiu, or traditional Miao embroidery. It is intricate and painstaking work, carefully crafting exquisite and colorful designs of flora and fauna, using nothing but needle and thread.

Despite my numerous attempts and failings, my teacher is patient and caring, something that I had noticed all too often during my stay in Shibadong. The Miao culture, its people and their welcoming nature will not leave me any time soon.

Upon my departure from Shibadong, Jiao's leaving gift for me was a local Miao ethnic song that roughly translates as: "Welcome to my home. Please enjoy our wine, our company, our friendship. Relish the sweetness of our air."

The long journey back to Beijing, as all long journeys, fills me with a vacant and pensive mood.

But I can always think back to my short time in Shibadong to lift my spirits.

(In 2020, China aims to achieve its goal of eradicating poverty in the country. From 2013 to 2019, 93 million people living in rural China have been lifted out of poverty.)

(Source: China Daily)