Grassroots Party officials share poverty-relief experience

BEIJING -- Five Communist Party of China (CPC) officials shared their grassroots experience about poverty relief in Chinese localities in Beijing on Friday.

At a press conference organized by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, the officials talked about how they managed to help impoverished residents out of poverty through developing industries, building infrastructure and setting up rural cooperatives.

Mao Xianglin, one of the officials, is the secretary of the CPC Xiazhuang Village branch in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality for 44 years.

During his tenure, Mao, 62, led locals to dig a 8-km road along cliffs, linking the village with the outside world. He also guided villagers to develop watermelon and orange industries, allowing the village to shake off poverty in 2015.

"I think a sense of perseverance and responsibility is extremely important," he said.

Another official Liu Shuangyan went from the city center of Bozhou to a remote village under Bozhou in east China's Anhui Province. In the past nine years, she managed to transform the once-impoverished Zhuji Village into a provincial-level "beautiful village."

"Working in the rural areas is hard, but since I chose to work here, I never got cold feet," said Liu, 46. "It is through the hardships that I grew."

Over the past eight years, China's remaining 98.99 million impoverished rural residents living under the current poverty line have all been lifted out of poverty. The country has met the poverty eradication target set out in the United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule.