By the end of 2020, Chinese government announced its poverty alleviation program (脱贫攻坚战), aiming to build an all-round moderately prosperous society, successfully completed.

It's said the nation's 128,000 poor villages and 832 poor counties are now totally out of poverty.

This Chinese new year holiday, I went back to my parent's hometown and had a glance about how it's really going.

I have to admit that I'm really impressed by the intelligence and efforts of the grassroot government workers. The small village is no longer what I saw before.

Many years ago, poverty alleviation usually took the form of directly donating goods and money.

Then, the government found this approach did not work.

Those poor people who received the supplies quickly consumed them, spent all those money, and return to poverty.

It's a bad ending, but a good experiment.

The government realized that simply building houses and donating money would not help the poor.

What really works is helping them get a consistent source of better income.

And here, the story I want to tell is just beginning.

The government has invested 110 million RMB in my parents' hometown to build a tourist area called In Bamboo(竹里, means bamboo village)

Not limited by their background, the village government cadres hired a world-class design team

In the 16th Venice International Architecture Biennale, an rural ∞ shape architecture design appear in public

Shanghai Archi-Union Architects did a great job

https://www.gooood.cn/in-bamboo-china-by-archi-union-architects.htm

Why bamboo？

In Bamboo is located in Doming Town, a small village famous for its traditional bamboo art in the region

One more interesting thing, In Bamboo is by the Chongqing Road

So why is there a road call Chongqing though it's actually in Chengdu?

Because this road was built by the Chongqing government after the 2008 Sichuan big earthquake, it is very beautiful

Although it is in a small village, its construction and design are very modern and beautiful, so it attracts a lot of tourists to visit it.

When we drove here, the parking lot was so full that many vehicles were parked by the side of the road

So did I

Villagers told me there are hundreds of staffs here, most of whom are local residents

They work here as security guards, cooks, tour guides or cleaners, and if you are a college student, you can even become a manager

The salary usually ranges from 2.5k to 7k RMB per month

The government not only pays salaries, but also gives bonuses to everyone at the end of each year

In addition, the government has hired a professional property management company to help manage In Bamboo

If you don't work here, you can also sell some local bamboo crafts here

This's not sustainable if it's only for tourists, so In Bamboo opened many other services

For example, you can eat hot pot, play mahjong or even hold a wedding

As a result, many people from the surrounding area go this place frequently, rather than an one-time visit

In Bamboo's success has inspired other villagers in the village

About 2 kilometers away from In Bamboo, villagers have jointly raised funds to build another tourist project called Happy Lane（幸福里）

That's another business model

The village government set up an asset management company and the villagers received shares in the company by giving land or money

This year, you will receive a dividend of 2k RMB for every 10k RMB of shares

20% annual ROI

Compared to In Bamboo, Happiness Lane got a more idyllic architectural style

There is a small lake in the center, surrounded by more than ten white tents

Visitors can eat hot pot in the tent (Sichuan people really love hot pot)

Guess what？

The day we got here, there was a Harley Davidson motorcycle show going on!

The tourism industry also helped the surrounding agriculture industry

Some farmers here have opened strawberry plantations

Picked strawberries are sold at 40RMB/kg, but if you pick it yourself, they are sold at 60RMB/kg

Smartass businessman

Of course, I bought some myself

Very tasty and sweet!

I know many China watchers are laughing at China's poverty alleviation programs, but surely you've heard the Chinese proverb "Seeing is believing"（耳听为虚，眼见为实）

Regardless, I am in awe of the efforts of the Chinese government

Welcome to China and do real watch

- Fin -