On October 29 and 30, the consular corps consisting of representatives from 26 consulates in Guangzhou arrived in Qingyuan, for a trip featuring rural revitalization in the northern gateway of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Consular corps visit Lianzhang village. (Photo/Newsgd.com)

Lianzhang village is a mountain village with more than 2,000 residents in Qingyuan. Surrounded by mountains and limited plain area, Lianzhang village was once classified as a provincial poverty-stricken village with low per capita disposable income.

In order to improve people's standard of living and build a moderately prosperous society, China has launched a large-scale poverty alleviation campaign since 2012. According to a white paper titled "Poverty Alleviation: China's Experience and Contribution", per capita disposable income of the rural poor increased from 6,079 RMB in 2013 to 12,588 RMB in 2020. As a result of the development, a total of 832 counties, 128,000 villages, and nearly 100 million people in China have shaken off poverty by the end of 2020, including Lianzhang village.

Data shows that the village has gotten rid of poverty (a total of 54 poverty-stricken families) with a per capita disposable income standing at 19,188 RMB in 2019. Moreover, in 2020, the annual per capita disposable income of all villagers reached 21,414 RMB, and 660 thousand RMB of the village’s general income was distributed to 2,417 villagers as dividends.

“Development so far has given a lot of money to a few rich people. So, you see the United Nations, and other governments are trying to find a way to fight (for) poverty alleviation. I was very happy to see that the Chinese government is doing the same.” Said Frederico Meyer, Consul General of Brazil in Guangzhou.

After all the villagers had been lifted out poverty, Lianzhang village is focusing on developing various industries to avoid the problem of returning to poverty.

Focusing on developing industries, the village takes the Modern Agricultural Industrial Park program and the Rural Revitalization Comprehensive Demonstration Zone as important platforms to build an integrated system of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.

Notably, as China’s first village with 5G coverage, farmers in Lianzhang enjoy more opportunities to increase their income with the help of short video and live streaming platform. “To see 5G technology in a village is really amazing.” Diyar Khan, Consul General of Pakistan comments:“It’s a very modern and a model village. Because we saw that technology is not only the property of cities. Technology can also be used in villages.”

Consular corps visit Enjoy Manor, a company committed to providing services for the black tea industry in Yingde. Using 5G, AR/VR, Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, Enjoy Manor built a digital production system for the whole industry chain of Yingde black tea. It’s the first Yinghong No.9 black tea production line with the highest level of automation, standardization and intelligence, and has obtained 1 invention patent and 13 utility model patents. (Photo/Newsgd.com)

At present, the province of Guangdong has built more than 90 thousand 5G base stations. The 5G signal has not only covered urban areas, but also many rural areas in the region.

Carlos Giralt, Consul General of Mexico in Guangzhou, said: “I was very impressed by the technologies related to the agricultural industry. Also, it is obvious that Lianzhang village has significantly improved living standards of its inhabitants.” By 2020, the collective income of the village has reached 2.08 million RMB.

He added: “We recognize these important advances; and definitely, we can learn from them.”

Featuring a combination of the resources of "industry and scientific research", Qingyuan keeps upgrading its industries via technology innovation. Qingyuan is now making great efforts to develop a strategic emerging industrial cluster featuring biomedicine, intelligent manufacturing, auto parts, digital economy, new material fine chemical industry, comprehensive and modern business and logistics.

Consular corps experience simulator of autonomous driving seat in “5G Intelligent Park”, a project in cooperation with Huawei, when visiting Tian'an Smart City Science and Technology Industrial Park. It is building a science and innovation platform that provides enterprises with systematic transformation and upgrade services as well as science and innovation services and growth services. (Photo/Newsgd.com)

As for the opportunities of cooperation discovered in this tour, the Consul General of Mexico in Guangzhou, as well as Dean of Consular Corps said: “The consular corps provide an abundance of ways to link with Qingyuan, by including such things as means of trade, business ventures, industry, agriculture, technology, culture, student exchanges, gastronomy and conservation of the environment.”

Author:Hannah

Editors:Wing, Jerry, Steven