Law publicity plays key role in changing mindsets of impoverished villagers

When Yang Bo, head of the village of Jinfu in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, led a group of cadres to visit Chen Lianmei, whose family is among the registered impoverished households in the village, a few days ago, he received a warm welcome from Chen. 

"Although she smiled at us this time, we were nearly driven out of her home the last time we visited her family about a year ago," Yang recalled.

The evolution of Chen's mindset can be traced to 2018 when Yang, an official of the province's judicial department, was appointed head of Jinfu.

In an effort to raise villagers' income, the village's leadership planned to use the fund allocated by the department to the village to promote a chili-growing program which required the leasing of land from 58 households. Chen's family was among them.

To the officials' surprise, the program encountered a strong boycott from the villagers involved and Chen, in her 60s, was the most vocal opponent among them.

"My entire livelihood relies on my land," said Chen who had been single-handedly looking after her grandchildren since her husband passed away and her son went to another province for work with his wife.

As it turned out, many villagers resisted the chili-growing program out of a shortage of legal knowledge, fearing that they would lose their land contracting right if they lease them out.

To address their concern, Yang and his colleagues decided to thoroughly explain the related laws and policies to them. "We elaborated on laws and policies to reassure people like Chen," said Yang.

To this end, the officials launched a massive law publicity campaign in the village, drawing on posters and slogans to disseminate legal information. They also appointed a lawyer as the village's legal counsel who was responsible for answering the villagers' various legal questions.

Over time, the campaign gradually enhanced villagers' legal awareness, making them understand that the land leasing contract would not affect their land contracting right.

"I signed the contract after knowing that I would be protected by the law," said Chen who was the first to do so. About three months after all the involved households had inked the contract, the village started to reclaim the land and grow chilies. By the end of last year, villagers earned a total of 52,000 yuan ($7,350) in profit from the program.

"Apart from growing chilies, we raised the incomes of 33 impoverished households by providing them with work opportunities last year," said Yang, who promised to continue the chili-growing program this year.