Sun Jie: Promoting Employment to Alleviate Poverty

Shangyi town of Zhangjiakou in Hebei province got rid of poverty this March, faster than local people's expectations.

Sun Jie, who had worked for China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC), for more than 20 years after graduation, was sent to the town in June 2016.

He visited all villages and enterprises in the town as soon as he arrived and quickly made plans to help local people get rid of poverty. Within two months, he inspected more than 100 poverty-stricken households and learned their needs.

"A right approach can lead to success," Sun said to his poverty-alleviation partner Bai Xuecheng.

With its high-altitude, Shangyi has long and extremely cold winters. Farming, the only income for locals, is impossible for half of a year.

A project manager at China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd., Sun regarded poverty alleviation as a full-scale project. He made models and simulated sand-table exercises, searching for suitable ways to help the area escape poverty.

Employment was the key, Sun said.

He explained that "Shangyi is a town of agriculture and has many laborers. CRCC is a comprehensive construction industrial enterprise calling for laborers. That was a chance for cooperation between the town and the company."

With CRCC's support a labor export platform was built which helped more than 100 Shangyi residents find positions in different projects.

Sun also proposed to CRCC to initiate a green passage to support graduates who meet the employment requirements of CRCC.

At present, 62 graduates in the town are working at the company which has relieved poverty in their families.

In addition to local people going outside for jobs, there were many others staying in their hometown. Finding them jobs was also a key to alleviating poverty.

Sun attempted to introduce some labor-intensive enterprises to drive local employment.

He negotiated with several such companies, encouraging them to invest in constructing factories in the town and recruiting local people.

Zhangjiakou Lunbi Garment Company was one of them.

Sun said "The company had an optimistic scale and advanced equipment. It also had promising output with high-quality. The only problem was lack of orders."

CRCC booked an order valued at more than 33 million yuan ($4.65 million) and built a new factory, where more than 100 local residents from poverty-stricken families are now working.

In 2019, the Lunbi Garment Company built another garment base in Daqinggou county and China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. provided relevant equipment valued at 150,000 yuan to help enlarge its output.

Family micro workshops were also built with the help of Sun. Such settings made it possible for some local people to work from home and at the same time take care of senior people.

Guzhichan Food Company also contributed to local employment in Shangyi. Focused on oat planting and deep processing, the company used to have a limited market.

On Sun's recommendation CRCC and Guzhichan signed an agreement on oat products valued at 5 million yuan, which not only brought opportunity to the company but also increased the income of 1,451 households.

China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. also invested in construction of a cereal processing plant, which helps farmers turn grain into income.

Education is a great concern of Sun. In addition to arranging training in technical skills related to engineering, he also promoted digitalized education with the help of Beijing-based 91 Yunxiao — a smart cloud education platform, which exempted 6.9 million yuan in education expense. 

During his stay in the town, a total of about 3.75 million yuan of poverty alleviation funds were provided to the area by China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co., Ltd. They were partly used to help 116 poor senior people move into new houses.

The heating system of the nursing house in Xiaosuangou county was renovated and a 700,000-yuan photovoltaic power plant was built in Nanchaonian village.

What's more, about 4.52 million yuan was invested in purchasing seven medical service vehicles which solved the problem of difficulties in obtaining local clinical treatment.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Sun made reports on condition of the town and helped the area raise 1.1 million yuan for purchase of anti-pandemic materials.

Sun said that support for Shangyi shall never stop although it has escape poverty. He added that poverty alleviation via consumption and farming field expansion should be the focuses in 2020 to consolidate current achievements.

Sun Jie inspects an agricultural crop. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Sun visits Lunbi Garment Company. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Sun (R) works together with local people in Shangyi at the pollution-free cereal supply base. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Zhang Tianyuan)