Jiang Zhongliang, Party secretary of Jinlan town, Yixing, helps famers with field work. [Photo/wxrb.com]
Jinlan town, Fangqiao sub-district, Yixing, has transformed from a backwards area into a pilot town for new-county development in East China's Jiangsu province.
After a decade of backbreaking work, the annual disposable income of the rural town exceeded 10 million yuan ($1.54 million) in 2020 from less than 300,000 yuan about 10 years ago. The per capita annual income of villagers exceeded 40,000 yuan.
Town residents owe their gratitude to Jiang Zhongliang, Party secretary of Jinlan town. Jiang was recognized as a role model in China's poverty alleviation fight on Feb 25.
Jiang has been working to pull the town out of poverty for the past 19 years. In his view, intensive agricultural management was the only thing that could bring prosperity to the town.
Jinlan town also led the establishment of a village-run cooperative farm in Yixing. Nearly 400 farmer households bought 185 hectares of land with contract rights and established a cooperative for unified management.
Even today, Jiang continues to help famers with field work himself.
In 2010, rather than using municipal financial allocations to improve the office of the village committee, Jiang applied for one hectare of land from the municipal government to build standard plants in the town.
Over the next few years, Jinlan town built a total of 11,000 square meters of standardized plants for over 40 enterprises. The town now earns over 1 million yuan in rent per year.
