SOUNDBITE 1: YU WENHAO, Deputy head of Tanchang County

Hello. I'm Yu Wenhao, deputy head of Tanchang County, Longnan City in northwest China’s Gansu Province. I came to Tanchang in 2020 for a two-year poverty -alleviation program. Before that, I was a law professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) in Beijing.

Tanchang was one of the least-developed counties in Gansu Province. But it has rich natural resources and ideal soil for cultivating Chinese herbs.

China initiated a "pairing assistance" program decades ago, in which financial, technical and personnel support have been provided to the less developed regions.

As a university directly under the Ministry of Education, CUFE was one of the institutions being paired with Tanchang county.

[Since 2019, the university has sent many talents here to help local people eliminate poverty]

All of the efforts in the program have been made in the area including helping local farmers sell agricultural products and providing better education for the students in the mountainousarea.

[Due to these efforts, Tanchang was removed from the poverty list in Nov. 2020]

Now, financial and personnel supports are continuing to be provided for Tanchang county, promoting local economic development and improving people’s lives. Students here can now enjoy a wealthy of curriculum resources. A new e-commerce service center has been established to help local farmers sell agricultural products nationwide.

In order to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation, the "pairing assistance" program will continue making efforts in promoting rural revitalization in the future.