Zhuhai has been paired with Maoming since 2013 in helping the city's poverty alleviation efforts, providing support to the city in building new infrastructure and promoting local development.

From 2013 to 2015, Zhuhai invested about 466 million yuan ($68.16 million) in funds, assisting 45 impoverished villages, 4,258 impoverished households, and 14,700 people in Dianbai district, as well as Huazhou, Xinyi, and Gaozhou, three county-level cities in Maoming, in their poverty alleviation efforts.

Zhuhai has provided targeted poverty alleviation assistance to 142 poverty-stricken villages in Maoming since 2016, aiding 10,517 impoverished households and 31,461 people. To date, a total of nearly 1.42 billion yuan has been invested in Maoming by Zhuhai.

A cattle farm and breeding base, covering a total area of 8,840 square meters, is built in Wenlong village in Huazhou, Maoming with the help of the Zhuhai Federation of Industry and Commerce. It boasts an annual output value of more than 10 million yuan. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Great achievements have been made in Maoming's poverty alleviation work with the assistance of Zhuhai.

The per capita disposable income of impoverished people with labor abilities in Maoming has reached 14,255 yuan, increasing by two and a half times than that without Zhuhai's assistance.

A total of 391 enterprises have been attracted to Maoming's impoverished villages to invest in and develop characteristic industries, with a total of 256.87 million yuan in social funds, while 269 poverty alleviation industrial bases have taken shape in the city.

Every impoverished village in Maoming has cultivated more than one agricultural characteristic industry that can promote the long-term income increase of impoverished households.

Zhuhai has carried out skills trainings for 15,844 impoverished people in Maoming to help their employment, as well as helped 10,533 impoverished laborers return to work after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus earlier this year.

Xingyuan Market, which opened on Aug 6, 2015, specializes in the sale of featured agricultural products from impoverished areas that Zhuhai is partnered with. [Photo/WeChat account: maofabu]

Measures were also taken by Zhuahi to promote poverty alleviation through consumption measures in Maoming, helping poverty alleviation products from Maoming enter the markets of the Pearl River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

To date, the sales volume of poverty alleviation products from Maoming has reached 268.73 million yuan.

In addition, Zhuhai has provided subsidies for students facing difficulties, helped 31,461 impoverished people participate in the basic medical insurance program, included 2,264 people in the assistance range for treating major and critical diseases, as well as completed renovation of dilapidated houses for 4,079 impoverished households.