Pang Qiyuan, First Secretary stationed in Beipo Village, Yanhe Township, Chengkou County, Chongqing

In August 2015, I was sent to Beipo Village to serve as First Secretary. Over the past two years, Beipo Village has made considerable progress in all aspects of development, the income of poor households has steadily increased, infrastructure has been continuously improved, and the appearance of the village and households has changed markedly. As First Secretary, I have made my own contribution to the development of Beipo Village and to lifting poor households out of poverty, and I feel very proud and gratified.

When I first arrived in Beipo Village, my colleagues and I began visiting one community after another, communicating household by household. The backwardness of Beipo Village moved me deeply, and I made up my mind that since I had come, I must accomplish something. As we walked more, the villagers became familiar with us, and they affectionately called me the "Rubber Shoe Secretary." My phone number also became a hotline for poor households.

Beipo Village is the "hard nut to crack" in Chengkou County's poverty alleviation efforts. A mud-and-gravel road just over 3 m wide runs through Community 1 and Community 3, but it is impassable for vehicles when people pass and impassable for people when vehicles pass. The other 6 communities are all up in the mountains, with no vehicle access at all. After a round of visits, those at home were basically elderly people aged 50 to 60 and above, while the young people were all working elsewhere, and the children were also studying elsewhere...

In October 2015, 5 households in Community 5 suffered a fire. Their houses were completely destroyed, and their cash, grain, and other supplies were burned to ashes. When we arrived after walking more than 4 hours along mountain paths, the villagers all shed tears. After returning to the township, I reported the situation to the County Party Committee Office and the County Transportation Development Company, the units providing assistance, and earnestly requested their help. In the end, on top of 2,000 yuan per household in civil affairs relief, the County Party Committee Office and the County Transportation Development Company provided 19,000 yuan in consolation money and some supplies.

Now, Beipo Village has changed a great deal. The widening and reinforcement of the Yanzhong Highway has been completed and it is about to be paved; construction of the Laobaishu Highway tunnel has begun and is in full swing; the road in Community 2 is being urgently repaired; the restoration of the river embankment is about to be fully completed; and the renovation of dilapidated and old houses is proceeding in an orderly way, with only a few households remaining... The villagers' recognition of the government, trust in officials, approval of the poverty alleviation work, and expectations for future life are all steadily rising...

The changes in Beipo Village are the result of everyone's joint efforts. Over the past two years, the county party committee and county government have invested heavily in Beipo Village. More than 80 million yuan was invested in the Yanzhong Highway, with most of the sections located in Beipo; the county party committee standing committee held a special study on the 17.93 million yuan investment issue for the Laobaishu Highway, building a road of hope for the people of Beipo Communities 5 to 8; county leaders visited Beipo Village more than 10 times to investigate how to crack this "hard nut"; the township party committee and government paid close attention, and Wu Xuefei, secretary of the Yanhe Township Party Committee, said: "Beipo is the difficult point in our township's poverty alleviation. If you have any problems, come directly to me." There are also the village officials, who, with the heavy task of poverty alleviation, have become "fully detached from production"...

I know that for a place to develop from poverty to moderate prosperity, there is still a lot of work to be done and a long way to go. But with such officials and villagers, I firmly believe that Beipo Village will surely emerge from poverty and move toward moderate prosperity! (Source: Economic Daily)