A poverty-stricken village in the remote Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province has found a new way of shaking off poverty - growing well-marketable medicinal herbs including one known as balloon flower, guided by a poverty-alleviation official from the local government.

Zhongcun Village in Yanyuan County of Liangshan, with an average allevation of more than 2,600 meters, is located in a mountainous area where transportation can be challenging. 

By 2018, all the villagers had been lifted out of poverty.

In a bid to consolidate the achievements in poverty alleviation, the village raised nearly 200,000 yuan (about 28,900 U.S. dollars) for growing medicinal herbs, helped by Zhao Zhuhui, a designated government official for the poverty alleviation mission.

According to Zhao, now the village's first secretary of the Communist Party of China branch, the villagers can make about 100 yuan (about 14.45 U.S. dollars) in wages per day.

"Since last year, we have issued a total of 140,000 yuan (about 20,200 U.S. dollars) for wage payment, which has benefited more than 100 poverty-stricken villagers," Zhao noted.

In more than one year, the villagers grew an area of 20 hectares of medicinal herbs, turning out different kinds of traditional Chinese medicinal herbal products.

Thanks to the operation of a collective economy, the village can now use funds earned to launch some projects like repairing the village's muddy roads.

"The main target is not about how much money we will distribute, but rather, it is about how we can lead the villagers in development. Actually, the liberal-minded officials with both the Communist Party branch and the Villagers' Committee can play a role in arousing the enthusiasm of the villagers. That's exactly the most important target we are striving to meet," said Zhao.

China has set 2020 as the target year to eradicate absolute poverty. Despite all the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus outbreak, the country determines to fulfill this goal as scheduled.

(Cover images via VCG.)

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