Zhang Qian

zhqcindy@163.com

THE roads in Yase Village, Heyuan, used to be dark and muddy before 2017, but thanks to help from Shenzhen Press Group, the villagers can now walk safely at night under the street lights of the widened, well-paved roads.

Shenzhen’s core government departments, public institutions and major corporations are fulfilling their social responsibility to aid the needy population in villages in Heyuan.

According to Peng Changmei, deputy director of the precision poverty alleviation office of the Shenzhen Command Post in Heyuan, each eligible Shenzhen organization is obligated to aid one of the 214 villages. Yase Village is Shenzhen Press Group’s matching village.

According to the goal in the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan, Guangdong should eliminate poverty by 2018, which means each person earns no less than 8,000 yuan (US$1,250) per year.

A support team from Shenzhen Press Group settled in Yase Village in May 2016. Li Xiaoqiang, a staffer of the press group and the leader of the supporting team, has been living in the village as a liaison.

By the end of 2017, Shenzhen Press Group had donated 5.8 million yuan to improve the village’s infrastructure, such as paved roads, street lights, bridges and public toilets.

Some donations were also used to help the poor households improve their livelihoods. For instance, Zhong Fangming, a handicapped man with only one hand, who used to sustain his family by raising only 20 pairs of pigeons for sale, was given 120 pairs of pigeons by the press group in 2016. Zhong told the Shenzhen Daily that with his business expanding over the past two years, he can now provide a better life for his family.

The press group has also endeavored to help the village attract tourists.

“Yase is a beautiful village with abundant tourist attractions, so we have arranged many artists to come to the village to do sketches,” said Li. The support team has also invited professors from renowned art colleges to teach the local children.

Paintings by children in the village have been auctioned off in a fundraiser in Shenzhen, and all of the money has been used to improve the village, said Li.

Like Shenzhen Press Group, Shenzhen Media Group (SZMG) is responsible for aiding another village called Shuangkeng Village, which is only a 10-minute drive from Yase Village.

SZMG has also carried out an array of aid measures to help the village with its main business of maintaining chicken farms.

The two media outlets will continue their aid efforts and expect to eliminate poverty in the villages by the end of this year.