Poverty alleviation leader Guo Chengzhi led the villagers of Qiannanyu to achieve three leaps in their standard of living

Xinhua News Agency, Shijiazhuang, November 24 (Reporters Fan Shihui, Zhao Hongyu) From more than a dozen households going out "to beg for food" to every family living in half-price buildings with free water, electricity and gas, the villagers of Qiannanyu Village, Xingtai County, Hebei, have achieved three leaps in their standard of living over the past 50 years. The dramatic change is all thanks to a poverty alleviation leader in the village.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a folk rhyme described Qiannanyu like this: "Bare hills and bald ridges like a monk's head, floods rushing down the mountains everywhere, washing away the riverbank fields along the valley, disasters nine years out of ten with no guaranteed harvest."

"We must demand grain and fruit from the barren mountains." Guo Chengzhi said. Since 1967, from deputy party branch secretary and militia company commander to village party committee secretary, Guo Chengzhi has led the masses in taming the mountains and planting forests for decades.

In the toughest first 10 years, everyone in the village, men and women alike, went to the fields at 5 a.m. and returned home at 10 p.m. Guo Chengzhi both directed and led by example. A summer night storm left him with a high fever of 39.2°C and shivering all over; he drank a bowl of ginger soup and kept working. In winter, the north wind was piercingly cold, and the frozen gneiss was as hard as an iron plate; one hammer blow split the web of his hand, but he wrapped it in tape and refused to stop. "You have to work even just a little more than the masses to be a cadre." Guo Chengzhi said.

Over more than a decade, the people of Qiannanyu built over 400 mu of riverbank fields and terraced fields, and 8,300 mu of forest farm was covered in green. They no longer had to worry about food.

"Without industry there is no wealth; without establishing enterprises, it is very difficult to achieve freedom from worry over food and clothing." Guo Chengzhi said. Starting in 1983, they used local barite resources to build a barium sulfate plant, which became profitable that same year, and afterwards they established more than a dozen enterprises one after another.

In order to pursue a industrial silicon project, Guo Chengzhi brought his own dry rations and money and left home for 3 months, traveling south and north, spending many sleepless nights in inns, on trains and in waiting rooms. He lost 18 jin of weight and was once seriously ill and hospitalized.

In order to secure a loan, he followed the bank president to and from work for 7 days, and even ate and slept at the bank president's home, pestering him persistently for a solution. The loan needed a guarantor, so on a night of pouring rain he pushed his bicycle with a flat tire, stumbling along, searching for a guarantor.

In the late 1990s, the total output value of 12 enterprises in Qiannanyu Village was nearly 100 million yuan.

In 2003, the pollution caused by 3 highly profitable enterprises plunged Guo Chengzhi into deep thought. He repeatedly worked on the villagers and took the initiative to shut down the enterprises, then turned to planning pollution-free projects such as a chestnut processing plant and a honey processing plant, achieving a "black to green" transformation.

At the same time, they introduced 36,000 famous trees from home and abroad, and leveraged the two major resource advantages of agricultural ecology and the old site of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University to develop eco-tourism. Last year, they received more than 600,000 tourist visits, and per capita net income reached 11,800 yuan.

"Every family lives in a 186-square-meter two-story detached house with a courtyard, half of the cost paid by the village collective. Whether buying high-end appliances or installing solar power and broadband, the village also subsidizes half the cost, and daily water, electricity and gas are all free." Villager Wang Xiaotang is proud to be from Qiannanyu.

Today, Guo Chengzhi, now over 70 years old, continues to contribute his remaining energy in the village. "My greatest wish is for the Qiannanyu 5A scenic area to be completed as soon as possible. By then, I estimate per capita net income can reach 30,000 yuan." Guo Chengzhi could hardly hide his joy.