16 foreign students, from 13 countries and regions, of Tianjin University visited Tanchang county of northwest China's Gansu province to explore the fruits of the poverty alleviation campaign.

For many years, Tianjin University has paired up with Tanchang county in poverty alleviation and rural vitalization.

Based on the advantages of its natural resources, Tanchang county has developed many key industries to help shake off poverty and improve the quality of villagers’ lives.

In Tanchang, the foreign students visited a honey factory to learn about the poverty reduction experiences of locals.

Muhammet Garabekov, a Turkmenistan student from the School of International Education, Tianjin University, said “as a foreign student, I’ve heard about Chinese poverty alleviation policies many times. Now we have come to the honey factory. There’s a good saying that ‘it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him fish.’ After this tour, I’ve witnessed rural vitalization in China and know more about China.”

Sara Grigoryan, an Armenian student from the School of International Education, said that “previously, this place was impoverished. Then, through hard work, a honey factory was built to make villagers’ lives happier. There is a saying, “no pain, no gain.” Let’s work for a better life.

Since 2019, the university has also been working with Tanchang county to introduce higher education resources and to help drive the development of local education.

For both summer and winter vacations, the university organizes voluntary for groups to carry out activities, such as voluntary teaching or cultural activities, in Tanchang county.

A voluntary group, composed of teachers and students from Tianjin University, decorated Tanchang county by painting walls covering a total area of hundreds of square meters.

The wall paintings mainly followed the themes of rural, industrial, and ecological revitalization, which were agreed upon by the county in prior communications.