'Two mountains' concept guiding China's poverty alleviation

In 2021, China declared a "complete victory" in eradicating absolute poverty.

Ecological poverty alleviation integrates ecological protection with poverty reduction, promoting coordinated development in impoverished areas and achieving a "win-win" for both poverty alleviation and ecological civilization.

Put forward 20 years ago by Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," or the "two mountains" concept, has guided tens of thousands of villages in China to channel ecological premiums into economic and social benefits.

Here are some representative cases showing how the concept guides practical innovation in protecting the environment while lifting people out of poverty.

Shimen County in central China's Hunan Province was once a deeply impoverished county, with severe rocky desertification and insufficient food supply in its mountainous areas.

Since the establishment of a local planting demonstration base in 2014, a new model has been adopted to promote soapberries, which are drought-resistant, poor-soil-tolerant and economically valuable.

A total of 906 registered poverty-stricken households in the county have been lifted out of poverty.

The planting area of soapberries has expanded to about 8,000 hectares, with an output value exceeding 100 million yuan (about $14 million), forming a complete industrial chain covering seedling breeding, raw material planting, deep processing and sales.

The macadamia industry has evolved over 30 years in Lincang City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, covering about 175,000 hectares across the city, with an annual output of 109,000 tonnes of nuts, making it the world's largest macadamia production base.

By 2024, the industry has reached 216,400 rural households in the city, with per capita income reaching 4,432 yuan and a total output value exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Lanxian County was once one of the areas most hit by water loss and soil erosion in north China's Shanxi Province.

After the setup of sandthorn cooperatives in 2017, more than 5,000 local poor households were recruited and lifted out of poverty.

Through returning farmland to forest, thousands of hectares of sandthorns are cultivated in Lanxian, with the local per capita income exceeding 10,000 yuan.

By developing ecological industries, the ecological environment in impoverished areas has been improved, and farmers' incomes have been raised, enabling them to achieve prosperity.

Ecological poverty alleviation closely integrates green development with targeted poverty reduction, providing replicable models for rural revitalization.

(Cover: Turnjujubes. /VCG)