Village's First Secretary Lifts Locals out of Poverty

Zhangchangfeng Village, with a total of 438 households, used to have 125 registered impoverished families, which was a large number for the villages in Haixing, a national-level poverty-stricken county in North China's Hebei Province.

Zhang Weiting was determined to lift those families out of poverty from the moment she was appointed first secretary of the village in May 2018.

Zhang investigated the root of the problems before finding a way to solve them. She visited the villagers from door to door and learned more about their conditions. By maximizing and giving full play to their own advantages, Zhang realized the goal of lifting the villagers out of poverty.

Wang Jinming masters the skills of platemaking, and his wife Yang Junling had a general understanding of dough modeling. Zhang encouraged them to start their own dough modeling business.

Zhang also helped them apply for a 100,000 yuan (US $14,133) interest-free loan to expand their business scale, and a stall license to qualify their products for sale all over the country.

Yang and her husband had earned more than 10,000 yuan (US $1,413.3) from selling dough modeling products with cartoon patterns in only two months before the Spring Festival. "I feel very happy to get rid of poverty thanks to my hobby. Zhang has lightened our dream," Yang said.

Dai Shufeng, a villager good at making chili sauce, packages it in glass bottles and sells them through an online store under Zhang's guidance. She paid off the household debt by means of her sauce business, and was elected by the villagers as the vice-president of the village's women's federation in 2019. 

Now, Dai's chili sauce sells about 300 bottles a month, bringing her an average monthly income of more than 2,000 yuan (US $282).

Zhang also motivated housewives to become the main income source of family. Ma Yujuan, only with junior high school level education, is now engaged in handmade noodle processing and works as director of the village's e-commerce center. 

The village produces a high-quality variety of wheat, but it was sold at a low price in the past. 

Zhang invited an expert to test the wheat's composition and it was proved to have higher nutritional value than common variety. Learning this, Zhang guided the villagers to grind the wheat into flour that will be sold at a much higher price. They have also developed highly-processed wheaten products such as noodles and dough modellings.

Zhang spared no effort helping the villagers solve various difficulties on their way of economic development. She guided all the impoverished families to join in the village's cooperative. 

She helped the villagers obtain special poverty-alleviation fund to open a modern flour processing company, urging them to ensure the quality of their goods which is the key to grow prosperous.

Given Zhang's efforts, the village has a series of featured agricultural products and has registered the "Zhangchangfeng" trademark. It also promotes the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries through the brand's wheaten food culture. The villagers in Zhangchangfeng have successfully won the battle against poverty relying on their hard work.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)