Dazhou, China: No Family or Person Left behind on Way out of Poverty to Well-off Life

CHENGDU,China,Nov. 3,2020 -- A task team of the Dazhou Disabled Persons' Federation (DDPF),together with multiple medical rehabilitation institutions,spent their time from Oct. 19 to 21,in Wanyuan,Dazhou,providing the locals with disabilities (PWDs) with "Express Medical Services" centering around poverty alleviation and medical rehabilitation. Over 30 medical rehabilitation experts,organized into 7 teams specializing in visual impairment,cerebral palsy (e.g. intellectual disability and autism),hearing impairment and mental disorder,etc.,disseminated knowledge about disability prevention and rehabilitation in the communities on a large scale. Apart from free medical examinations,the teams provided targeted medical solutions,such as assistive devices and cataract surgery,to the PWDs in need,including children.

Multiple Poverty Alleviation Solutions Offered to PWDs

Poverty alleviation for PWDs has long been an integral part of China's poverty alleviation cause. This is the 5th year in a row for Dazhou to organize the "Express Medical Services" event,a program of poverty alleviation and medical rehabilitation. Aiming at basic rehabilitation needs of impoverished PWDs,the government intends to know fully about the landscape of PWD assistance and provide targeted rehabilitation to those in need.

In addition to caring for impoverished PWDs,Dazhou has stepped up efforts in recent years to support those in rural areas economically. The government is making every effort to assist PWDs in urban and rural communities with job and entrepreneurship opportunities. For example,the government eliminates employment discrimination,encourages employment of the disabled with physical capabilities and provides 102,800 PWDs with vocational training and employment services.

Chen Xiaolong,a citizen of Dazhou,has been discriminated against since childhood because of his physical impairment,which rendered him jobless. However,he didn't despair of his life,but struggled even hardder against adversity. Chen rented a patch of over 200,000m2 land in Xuanhan for plum planting and then founded a cooperative in 2016,helping those around him to improve their livelihoods. In 2018,he joined in a DDPF training program before taking his business online. By Aug. 2020,online orders for his plums added up to thousands of kilograms.

No Family or Person Left Behind on the Way to Prosperity for All

In addition to helping the disabled in need,Dazhou has been going all out to fight poverty for all locals these years in a drive to improve their income and life. The government has steadfastly pursued the goal of "Leaving no family or person behind",a policy closely related to the government's years-long fight against poverty.

Located in northeastern Sichuan,Dazhou is blessed with a wealth of natural gas resources,hence the name "the Capital of Gas in China". It is also the birthplace of Ba culture,a brilliant civilization created by the ancient Ba people who lived and flourished in the land over 4,000 years ago. However,its location in the Qin & Daba mountains made it one of China's most impoverished areas. Xuanhan,one of its counties,is known to have once the largest poor population in Sichuan. In Dazhou,underdeveloped infrastructure led to the disabled and the bed-ridden falling into poverty,who accounted for 69.86% of the city's impoverished population,giving rise to more complexities to poverty alleviation; therefore,it was a long-cherished dream of the locals to get out of poverty and live a well-off life.

To this end,the Dazhou government has devoted a lot of efforts to poverty alleviation and has secured a total of RMB 27.967 billion in all types of grant,of which RMB 6.027 billion is fiscal grant earmarked for poverty alleviation. The government has helped 252,000 poor laborers land jobs successfully while entitling more than 170,000 registered poor families to subsistence allowance,of which the criteria steadily and dynamically exceeds China's national poverty alleviation criteria. At the same time,the government is also doing its utmost to fight poverty through economic development,legal system improvements and infrastructure development.

In order to root out poverty,address its intergenerational transmission,and enhance personal competence for the residents,Dazhou strives to promote education to help the poor. In addition to investments in school buildings and optimizing teaching environment,the city has helped more than 100,000 students in universities,primary/secondary schools and kindergartens with financial support through social resource integration as well as tuition and fee remissions. In the past 5 years,the government has helped tens of thousands of poor students realize their college dreams. In Xuanhan alone,55,000 students have been admitted to colleges since 2013. In 2016,the Academy of Arts & Design of Tsinghua University set up a nationwide "support research program for outstanding poor art students",a total of 7 students in Dazhou qualified for the project,making the city one with the most participants across China.

The year 2020 witnesses that China builds a moderately prosperous society in all respects. On the way out of poverty and to a relatively comfortable life,Dazhou "will not leave a single household or person behind." At present,Dazhou has reduced its poverty-stricken population by a total of 704,000,with the rest meeting the criteria of poverty alleviation,828 poverty-stricken villages and seven poverty-stricken districts and counties lifted out of poverty. In the future,Dazhou will continue to consolidate its achievements of poverty alleviation in a bid to improve the overall development of society and the life of its people.

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