Together in Prosperity: Tales from a Chinese county

China's decisive battle to eliminate poverty by 2020 is reaching its final stages. China Daily takes a look at its progress so far by visiting the small county of Huichang.

HUICHANG, Jiangxi - Places have histories and names have meanings, not all of which can be fully translated into a single word. Beijing, for example, literally means "the northern capital", while Shanghai at the mouth of Yangtze River actually means "to the ocean."

Huichang (pronounced hway-chang) is a rural county in the southern province of Jiangxi, at its southeast corner to be specific. A hilly and woody area, the roads are as winding and turbulent as its many rivers. The name has two Chinese characters and depending on the interpretation of the first - a willful determination or a gathering rally - it means either "will prosper" or "together in prosperity."

Because of its remote location and deep-rooted association with the early, critical days of the Communist Party of China, most notably the strenuous guerrilla warfare in its mountain ranges, Huichang tends to evoke images of "old revolutionary bases," an evocative term that often recalls hardship and backwardness.

These images are only partially true. Until very recently, the place and its surrounding areas were indeed very poor. Of the 24 state-acknowledged impoverished counties in Jiangxi by the end of 2014, nearly half were situated in the provincial south, including Huichang. The county's remoteness is also undeniable; the nearest airport is two hours' drive away, in a city on the other side of an entirely different county. Though a highway was recently built in the region, it teasingly skirts the county's borders.

But any visitor to Huichang can now testify the area is experiencing an undeniable economic upswing, social coherence and cultural revival. In April, Huichang county was officially removed from the nation's poor-county list, eight months ahead of China's designated deadline to fulfil a decisive battle against poverty by 2020. It was by no means an easy victory - but no worthy fight ever should be.

Village First Secretaries

One of the most notable features of China's anti-poverty campaign is its specificity, namely its willingness and determination to study the needs of each family and village and help them target the difficulties accordingly. Village first secretaries are at the forefront of this campaign, sometimes interchangeably referred to as first secretaries or anti-poverty secretaries. Wang Zhen is one of them, stationed at Nantian (southern field) village in north Huichang.

Huichang is, by Chinese standards, a medium-sized county, covering an area of roughly twice Los Angeles - mostly hills (95 percent) and forests (80 percent) - with a population of about half a million people. The locals are most Hakka, their twangy dialect so distinctive that outsiders often have a hard time understanding simple words, and conversations are even harder.

Born in Tianjin and raised in Beijing, Wang is a northerner through and through. "When they speak really fast, it can be difficult to understand," he said. Time has made it easier, thanks in no small part to his nightly strolls around the village chatting with locals to learn about their difficulties. Nantian has 376 households, 68 of which were registered as poor when Wang arrived here in August 2017.

Chen Cai is also a first secretary at another village closer to the county seat, called Zhantang (rising pond). While Chen is a native and therefore experiences no language difficulties, instead, he has had to face the large problem of 109 poor households in the village.

It was both secretaries' job to help those households get out of poverty, and to do so as soon as possible.