Once, the poor people in Xihaigu area of Ningxia worked hard for a year, often still "lack of food in the pot, lack of water in the tank, and no money on their bodies." In April 1997, Xi Jinping, then deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, came to Xihaigu for the first time and was shocked by the local extreme poverty: "After reading it, I made up my mind to implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and promote the development of Fujian and Ningxia Counterpart assistance." In July 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping recalled this story affectionately while visiting Minning Town, Ningxia. In June 2020, during his inspection in Hongsibao Town, Wuzhong City, Ningxia, the General Secretary walked into the poverty-relief workshop built by Minning in cooperation with "ordering". The general secretary said that it is meaningful for enterprises to participate in the establishment of poverty alleviation workshops, and then rich first, then rich later.
For more than 20 years, how have the two places worked together to turn the "dry beach" into a "golden beach"? Now is the crucial moment for a decisive battle to overcome poverty. What enlightenment can the story of Minning's counterpart help bring us? This issue of "Xi Jinping's Story" tells you about it.
Ningxia Xihaigu, mountain ditch deep, barren land. Before immigrants moved, many people lived in caves. The cave houses both people and food. Because of the drought and lack of water for many years, until the 1990s, villagers still expected water wells for water and water. People work hard for a year, but still "there is no food in the pot, no water in the tank, and no money on their bodies."
In the spring of 1997, Xi Jinping, the deputy secretary of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee, went to Ningxia to investigate the cooperation between the East and the West. He was shocked by the poverty of Xihaigu. To build a new home in the desert, and personally named it: Minning Village.
With the support of Fujian's aid funds, Minning Village broke ground on a Gobi beach in Yongning County outside Yinchuan City. In this way, everyone cherishes the yearning for a better life and moves towards a new home. The infrastructure of Minning Village is constantly improved. Immigrants are also actively investing in production and construction on this land.
In order to ensure that the immigrants can move out and be stable, Minning Township has used the funds, technology and talents in the east and combined with local characteristics to cultivate wine grapes and red raspberry cultivation, beef cattle breeding, facility greenhouses, etc. Characteristic industries, let development embark on the "fast track".
For more than 20 years, Fujian has assisted Ningxia with more than 2.6 billion yuan in financial funds, and selected 11 batches of 185 cadres to work in poverty-stricken areas in Ningxia to contribute to industry matching, economic assistance, and social undertakings. In 2019, the per capita disposable income of Minning Town reached 13,970 yuan, and the incidence of poverty was reduced to 0.197%.
Rich first, then rich, things join hands. For more than 20 years, the people of Minning and Hong Kong have worked together to draw up a blueprint for the era of comprehensive well-off, which has also become a successful example of China’s impoverished regions achieving common development through counterpart collaboration.