by Xinhua writers Lyu Qiuping, Wang Yang, and Xue Qinfeng
JINAN, May 19 (Xinhua) -- For farmers of Houweixue, an impoverished village in eastern China's Shandong Province, the two billboards along the expressway at the village entrance are not only a place for advertising but also a cash cow.
The annual advertisement fee of 170,000 yuan (24,000 U.S. dollars) paid by a cement plant was the first collective income introduced by Du Jixin, a former transport manager who was sent to the village for poverty alleviation.
Since 2015, China has appointed young and excellent Party members or former cadres from government departments, organizations and enterprises to help with poverty alleviation of villages -- part of the country's efforts to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020. They are called "the first Party secretaries."
The non-local talents have brought ideas, technology, investment and industries, leading impoverished villagers to prosperity.
In Houweixue Village, where mountains and hills account for one-third of the land, most men used to work in cities and women toiled in the field, bringing home meager yields.
When the expressway linking the provincial capital of Jinan and southern China's Guangzhou was built and became operational in 2016, villagers had nothing except a land acquisition compensation of 2 million yuan.
"We tried to build a billboard next to the road, but construction was suspended because we did not have permission," said Zheng Changhua, Party chief of the village.
Du's arrival last April was a turning point. Supported by his employer, Shandong Railway Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., Du led the village cadres to negotiate with the expressway management authorities. Meanwhile, he helped contact multiple companies to rent the billboards.
The village Party committee, in cooperation with the village-owned collective enterprise, has also developed a tea brand based on the chrysanthemum plantation and processing, selling chrysanthemum tea to major supermarkets in the province and other parts of China via e-commerce platforms.
Over the past year, all impoverished households have been lifted out of poverty, and the collective income of the village has tripled to 500,000 yuan.
"The narrow minds of local households used to hinder their development. With different ideas, they will have a broader way," Du said, adding that higher collective income would become a key to poverty alleviation and rural vitalization.
The village is now facilitating a series of public projects, such as a running water pipeline system, a cultural square and landscaping, according to Du.
By the end of last year, a total of 459,000 Party members had been selected across China as the first Party secretaries, including 230,000 who were still in place, contributing a lot to the country's poverty alleviation work.
In Qian'an County, northeast China's Jilin Province, first Party secretary Lin Xiangzhi brought farming technology to Bingzi, an impoverished village with saline-alkali land.
Lin, an agronomist from a local agricultural technology promotion center, encouraged farmers to shred the crop straws into the field and adopt conservation tillage, planting and growing crops with minimal disturbance of the surface soil.
The technology has been used on the 629-hectare farmland of the village, increasing the yield by nearly 2 million yuan. Trees are also planted on the desertified land, improving the soil quality.
Sun Deshan, a former poor farmer, saw his produce value quadruple to 4,000 yuan out of the farmland. Including the income of raising poultry, he and his wife made 10,000 yuan last year.
"Along with our soil, we are no longer considered poor," said Sun. Enditem
