Hansen Nick Rene
In March 2018, a friend sent a volunteer recruitment message, saying that a village was growing passion fruit and needed manpower. At that time, I had retired from the Luxembourg Police Department and became a backpacker traveling around the mountains and rivers. I was staying in Hechi City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Out of curiosity, I put my camera on my back and rode the bus bumping all the way into the mountains to Chatong Village.
When I first arrived in Chadong Village, what I saw were mud houses made of yellow mud, and households without water or electricity—the level of poverty exceeded my imagination. Here, I met Xie Wanju, the then first secretary of Chatong Village, and became his "foreign assistant." From building fruit sheds, connecting water and electricity, to growing passion fruits and watermelons, to surveying mountain roads and raising funds, I do almost everything. Over the past eight years, not only has poverty alleviation been achieved as scheduled, but the village's industrial development has also been on the right track, and the lives of the villagers have become more and more prosperous. While I was happy, I couldn't help but think: Why have China's rural areas undergone earth-shaking changes?
First of all, it is the persistence of “leaving no one behind”. I remember that I and a group of village cadres rebuilt a rugged mountain road for three families. Some people said at the time that it was not worth investing so much time and energy into just three households. However, the village cadres believe that this road must be built. If they don't have enough funds, they will find sponsorship. If they don't have enough manpower, they will carry steel bars and stones up the mountain themselves. On the day of the access road, three families held our hands and kept saying "thank you". I deeply remember that moment. An important feature of China's poverty alleviation campaign is that it takes care of individual individuals. Poverty alleviation is not about a simple increase or decrease in numbers, but about giving everyone the opportunity to change their lives.
In addition, there is a spirit of unity working towards a common goal. The government invests in improving infrastructure, grassroots cadres work day and night in the fields, enterprises and social forces provide financial, technical and sales support, and ordinary villagers become the mainstay of development through hard work. I believe that this ability to unite as one and turn ambitious goals into practical actions is an important reason for China’s achievements in poverty alleviation. The government determines the direction and invests resources, grassroots cadres implement it seriously, and social forces provide support. In the end, good policies benefit thousands of households.
In 2020, Chadong Village successfully lifted out of poverty, and I received a banner with the slogan "Love Chadong, Selfless Dedication". The focus of development here has changed: in the past, the problems that had to be solved were the lack of electricity, water or roads; now, everyone is paying more attention to whether the industry can be sustained, whether young people are willing to return home, and how rural tourism can attract tourists. In Guangxi, I witnessed young people who returned home opening B&Bs, doing live broadcasts, and running farms. I also saw mountain products and specialties reaching a larger market through the Internet. China does not regard poverty alleviation as the end point, but as the starting point of sustainable development.
Objectively speaking, China still has a lot of work to do to consolidate and expand its achievements in poverty alleviation, but I am pleased to see that China is not only developing industries and improving the environment, but is also shaping the ability of sustainable rural development. Here, the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas is not a "to-do list" to be completed, but a long-term process of constantly discovering and solving problems, and countless cadres and the masses are working together for this.
People often ask me, Nick, why do you want to stay here? I think it's because of the people here. Last year, Xie Wanju gave me a Chinese name: "Xie Wanke". "Xie" has the same surname as him, which means we are a family; "Wan" comes from his family's seniority; "Ke" is a homophone for my name, but also means cuteness and humor. For me, a Chinese name is not only a title, but also represents acceptance. It means that I have changed from a person who observes China to a person who lives, works and solves problems with the villagers.
Over the past eight years, I have gone from being a foreign backpacker who walked into the mountains of Guangxi to becoming a volunteer here and also becoming "Xie Wanke". I have witnessed China's victory in the battle against poverty, and I am also witnessing the comprehensive revitalization of China's rural areas. I sincerely invite foreign friends to come to China, have a farm meal at a villager’s house, taste passion fruit in an orchard, and look at the asphalt roads leading out of the mountains. Because the China in my eyes is on a mountain road, in an orchard, and in the increasingly down-to-earth smiles of the villagers.
(The author is a volunteer from Luxembourg, interviewed and compiled by our reporter Li Weijun)
