Ye Jiqing gave his life to the cause of poverty alleviation, facing death unflinchingly
From 8 am to 2 pm on November 23, Ye Jiqing, 57-year-old deputy secretary of the Party branch of Guqidong Village, Shuangfeng Township, Shaodong County, Hunan Province, was working with the village-stationed poverty alleviation task force to study and identify the village's low-income households when he delayed his meal and suddenly fell unwell. Cadres of the poverty alleviation task force rushed him to the hospital for emergency treatment, and he died that night after rescue efforts failed.
Guqidong Village was formed by merging Guqi Village and Qilin Village in October this year. Before that, Ye Jiqing had served for 12 consecutive years as secretary of the Party branch of Qilin Village, a provincial-level poor village. For 12 years, he devoted all his energy to the village's escape from poverty and pursuit of prosperity.
Qilin Village has 576 people, more than 50% of whom are impoverished. In 2008, Ye Jiqing led the 521 villagers staying in the village to harden 1.4 km of village roads and build 1 stone arch bridge by raising funds and mobilizing labor. By the time of the leadership change in 2011, the village was already 108,600 yuan in debt. Ye Jiqing advanced more than 10,000 yuan from his family's frugal savings, village committee director Ye Jiyun put in 30,000 yuan, and together with allocations from the county and township, all the village's debts were repaid that year. In 2014, Ye Jiqing organized villagers to build 1 new small reservoir, and in 2015 an 880-meter water release canal was completed. In 2016, 108 new streetlights were installed, and the dilapidated-house renovation of 22 households and a 410,000-yuan village drinking water project were under intense construction.
Ye Jiqing's family was poor. His wife was in poor health, and of his son, daughter-in-law and the six of them, 3 suffered from mental illness to varying degrees, 1 had low labor capacity, and his eldest daughter-in-law ran away from home. He had no choice but to contract with his wife to plant 30 mu of rice and some vegetables; selling rice and vegetables became the family's source of income. In 2009, Ye Jiqing began preparing to build his own new house. To save on labor costs, he laid every brick himself over 7 years, and to this day the red bricks at the very bottom have grown moss, yet the house is still not finished.
Even so, Ye Jiqing never forgot to help villagers poorer than himself, nor did he forget the village's development and poverty alleviation. To lead the villagers out of poverty to prosperity, he racked his brains for solutions and did everything possible to achieve real results. Of the village's 82 impoverished households, 58 have so far successfully escaped poverty. To build a convenience bridge over the reservoir spillway, he withstood pressure and carried his bedding to sleep at the construction site, guarding materials and supervising progress, sleeping there for 37 nights in a row. During Ye Jiqing's tenure, all the village's work got on track: 6 of the village's 8 groups had roads hardened to the group level, the streetlights lit up in neat rows, yet in front of Ye Jiqing's own home the road was still dirt and there was no streetlight at his door.
Ye Jiqing has gone, leaving behind his frail and sickly wife, leaving behind 3 sick children, leaving behind the reluctance of all the villagers, and leaving behind the blueprint for the village that has yet to be fully realized...
Zeng Xiaofeng, Wang Yan, He Shuang