Liangshan Yi: Though many years have passed, Wang Xiaobing still vividly recalls the staggering poverty that plagued Ahou village in the remote mountains of Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province.
Wang, 50, an employee of the Xide branch of State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Co, has served as the first Party secretary of the Yi ethnic village since January 2017. Over the years, he has guided villagers to upgrade infrastructure and develop local industries, lifting them out of poverty. Their average annual income surged more than tenfold, from 1,500 yuan ($205) in 2015 to 18,259 yuan in 2024.
Two decades ago, Wang came to the village to install the power facilities that would connect it to the power grid for the first time. He and his colleagues spent hours climbing a mountain to reach the village at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters.
“Back then, there was only a muddy path leading to the village, so rugged that our car couldn’t get through,” he said. “We had no choice but to walk the rest of the way.”
When they finally arrived, Wang found shabby houses, barren land and children in tattered clothes.
In line with China’s targeted poverty alleviation campaign, which aimed to eradicate extreme poverty nationwide by 2020, State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Co began to provide paired assistance to Ahou village in 2016. At that time, the village remained mired in poverty. One-third of its population lived below the national poverty line, meaning their per capita annual income was less than 2,952 yuan.
To help villagers shake off poverty as soon as possible, the company appointed an employee as the village’s first Party secretary. Wang, an ethnic Yi, was among the candidates.
“I was really torn,” he said. “I wanted to help the villagers but was worried that my elderly mother and young children might lack proper care.” Wang’s wife, who was teaching at a remote village school, could hardly return home. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
