Since 2017, Zhanjiang in Guangdong province has been paired with Liuzhou in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region to assist in their poverty alleviation efforts.

The two cities have been cooperating in developing featured industries in the three impoverished counties of Rongshui, Rong'an, and Sanjiang in Liuzhou, helping lift them out of poverty.

Lianjiang, a county-level city in Zhanjiang, has been paired with Rongshui to support it in promoting local development and poverty alleviation efforts.

Miao embroidery in Rongshui Miao autonomous county is an intangible cultural heritage in Guangxi. Lianjiang decided to combine Miao embroidery with employment opportunities. In April 2019, evening embroidery training classes were opened in Rongshui.

To date, more than 400 women have taken part in the training classes, including 35-year-old Wu Liuying. Wu is a registered impoverished person from Gunbei township of Rongshui. She was disabled in 2010 after a car accident, which had forced her to stay at home.

In July 2019, Wu took part in the embroidery training class and mastered a variety of embroidery skills. She currently can earn about 1,500 yuan ($220) per month through her Miao embroidery work.

Wu Liuying works at home by creating Miao embroidery works. [Photo/WeChat account: gdzjfb]

Cooperation was also carried out between enterprises from Guangdong and Rongshui. Rongshui enterprises organizes people to finish the ordered embroidery products, while Guangdong enterprises are responsible for sales.

In the first half of this year, an order from Foshan, Guangdong contained 15,000 pieces of embroidery products, valued at 300,000 yuan, while an order from Guangzhou, Guangdong requested 8,000 embroidery products that are worth 200,000 yuan.

Kumquat cream is a featured product jointly developed by Rong'an county and Suixi county in Zhanjiang. By processing kumquat cream, the income generated by kumquats per mu (0.07 hectares) can be increased by 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

Sanjiang Dong autonomous county has been developing its tea industry with the help of Wuchuan, a county-level city of Zhanjiang. By improving the tea quality, the two counties are trying to promote the price increase of tea, thus increasing the incomes of tea farmers and helping lift them out of poverty.

By the end of 2019, Zhanjiang has helped lift 97,800 impoverished people in Rongshui, Rong'an, and Sanjiang counties in Liuzhou out of poverty.

Since 2018, Zhanjiang has helped the three counties in implementing 87 poverty alleviation projects and introducing 35 enterprises from eastern China.

Zhanjiang has also helped more than 3,200 people from the three counties find employment in provinces and cities in eastern China this year.