5 Women Honored for Poverty Relief5 Women Honored for Poverty Relief

Over the past eight years, the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty. All 832 impoverished counties and 128,000 villages have also been removed from the poverty list. That has made China's anti-poverty campaign the grandest poverty reduction project in human history.

High tribute must be paid to countless women working on the front line of the battle against poverty. They devoted their heart and soul to the country's anti-poverty fight. Some of them could not even live to see the success of China's poverty eradication campaign.

At the grand gathering to mark the nation's poverty alleviation accomplishments and honor model poverty fighters on February 25, five women were honored model poverty fighters for their outstanding achievements in the fight against penury. Two of them were honored posthumously.

Let's salute to these women model poverty fighters:

Bai Jingying, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region [Women Voice]

Bai Jingying, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has endeavored to promote the inheritance, protection and innovative development of Mongolian embroidery, which is on the list of the national intangible cultural heritage. Bai helped establish the industrial operation mode of "enterprise + association + base + farmers and herdsmen" and greatly improve the Mongolian embroidery industry.

Bai has motivated 26,000 women in the banner to participate in the Mongolian embroidery industry, and she has guided women farmers and herdsmen in poverty-stricken areas to get rid of poverty.

Zhang Xiaojuan, former Deputy Chief of the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Zhouqu County, Northwest China's Gansu Province [Women Voice]

Zhang Xiaojuan returned to her hometown of extreme poverty and became a grassroots civil servant in Zhouqu County, Northwest China's Gansu Province in 2008, giving up the chance to stay in Beijing. Zhang visited all the impoverished households in 208 villages across the county, learning about their needs and helping solve their problems. On October 7, 2019, Zhang died in a car crash after she had finished inspecting the work of poverty alleviation in a village.

Zhang Guimei, secretary of the Party branch and president of Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, Southwest China's Yunnan Province [Women Voice]

Zhang Guimei, secretary of the Party branch and president of Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Huaping County, Lijiang City, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has devoted her life to helping girls from poverty-stricken families to receive an education. Established in 2008, Huaping Senior High School for Girls is the first free-of-charge girls' senior high school in China. More than 1,800 girls from the school have been admitted to universities in the past 12 years.

Xia Sen, former researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences [Women Voice]

Xia Sen, former researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), donated her own savings of more than 2 million yuan (US $309,600) to help improve teaching conditions in poverty-stricken areas of Danfeng County in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and Shangyou County in East China's Jiangxi Province, after she retired from the CASS. Among the donations, 1 million yuan (US $154,800) was used to establish the Xia Sen Scholarship. It has helped 182 impoverished students complete their study in colleges and universities.

Huang Wenxiu, former first secretary of Baini Village in Baise City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region [Women Voice]

After graduating from Beijing Normal University with a master's degree in 2016, Huang Wenxiu returned to her hometown in Baise City, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and she became a cadre with the Publicity Department of the Baise Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. She was appointed as the first secretary of Baini village to help with poverty alleviation in March 2018.

Huang conducted door-to-door visits across the village and sought for projects, funding and technical assistance for the local people. Given her efforts, 418 people from 88 impoverished households in the village were lifted out of poverty. She died in an accident in mountain torrents on her way back to the village in June, 2019.

(Source: Women Voice/Translated and edited by Women of China)