In recent years, the Xiejiaping Tujia People’sTownship of Songzi City has been committed to poverty alleviation by making thebest of its own advantages. The local government is making every effort toimprove the production and living conditions of the mountainous people anddevelop its unique tourism industry. Now, the township has transformed from apoverty-stricken area at provincial level to a thriving tourist destination.
Xiejiaping connects Songzi City with fourcounties of two provinces, so it is known as “Jingzhou’s Roof”. Due to restrictedtransportation, the size of Xiejiaping’s economy was quite small and it wasgrowing at low speeds. Cao Chuanyu, 56, from an impoverished household of XiejiapingVillage, once lived in the DongbiyanPyrite Mining Area. This area was near the mountains and the transportation wasdifficult, which pushed Cao’s family into poverty.
Apart from the poor living conditions withoutwater and electricity, the village only had one bumpy path connecting with theoutside, which led to difficult transportation. Therefore, the local governmentplanned to relocate 31 impoverished households, including Cao Chuanyu’s family,to a community in Guanwangpo. At the end of last year, 99 villagers of the 31families moved into their new homes in Guanwangpo (literally meaning Guan Yulooks at the scenery).
Legend has it that during the Three Kingdomsperiod Guan Yu led his troops to this place. Attracted by the beautiful sceneryof the Jingchu area, he ordered his soldiers to remove armor and rest here. Sothis place was named Guanwangpo. Now, what should be done to make the relocatedfamilies live in comfort with stable income is a key issue to be addressed bythe local government. Li Guosheng, 45, and his family were also relocated here.His parents have trouble in walking and his children need to go to school everyday, so he is unable to go out to work. In order to create jobs for the poor households,the joint professional cooperative of the village has established a garmentprocessing factory in the community. Today, the residents are able to workwithin the community.
Transportation was extremely inconvenient inQuchihe Village in Xiejiaping Tujia People’s Town. In recent years, QuchiheVillage has combined its natural landscapes with the Tujia customs to promotethe construction of a unique and beautiful village. The Quchihe Hot SpringResort, in which 400 million yuan was invested, opened last year. It is attractinglarge numbers of tourists, creating jobs and wealth for the villagers. LiuJianping, a Quchihe villager, once made a living by growing crops and sometimestraded at a loss. Now, his family is running a restaurant with an annual incomeof about 200,000 yuan.
In recent years, the Xiejiaping Township ofSongzi City has strengthened education for poverty alleviation, improved infrastructureand turned itself into a tourism village by taking advantage of its naturalscenery. The poverty rate of the Xiejiaping Township has dropped from 21% in2014 to 3.1%.