Lu Liping displays a packet of rice cakes alongside some on a tray to sell

An indigenous rice cake producer in Langdai Town, one of the communities under Liupanshui Municipal Government, has been making a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan from her trade, crediting it to the Chinese government’s poverty alleviation strategies.

Lu Liping, a producer and trader of glutinous rice cakes, said she inherited the rice cake recipe and trading techniques from her parents who have been doing it for decades.

However, she noted that she has recently started to make a huge profit from her trade after the Chinese government introduced poverty alleviation strategies.

“At the moment, we are realizing better sales because there are lots of tourists coming to the town as a result of improved conditions of hotel and guestrooms. These improved conditions are being carried out by the Liupanshui municipal government through the Communist Party of China (CPC). Tourists really like this type of cake,” Lu Liping said in an exclusive interview with journalists on the recent 2018 Liupanshui Belt and Road and ASEAN media tour.

The glutinous rice cakes are packaged just like normal biscuits from the world’s best known manufacturing companies.

Quizzed on how she packages the indigenous rice cake, Lu Liping hastened to say whenever she prepares her rice cakes, she then takes them to a factory to do the packaging in order to make them attractive.

She noted that each rice cake is packaged under improved hygienic conditions thereby making it safe for consumption.

The indigenous rice cake producer and trader disclosed that she currently makes 20,000 yuan, approximately US$2,910, every month.

African journalist, writing for Concord Times in Sierra Leone, posed for a photo with the rice cake producer

She explained that previously, before the poverty alleviation strategies were implemented in her town, she could not make this kind of profit because there were limited numbers of people visiting her town.

Lu Liping, whose living standards have significantly improved, said that she could now pay school and university fees for her children without concern.

Customers who surrounded her stall to buy rice cakes expressed their satisfaction with the quality of her produce. They confirmed that she has been in the rice cake business for years.

“What I like about her rice cakes is that she produces them in hygienic conditions and they are well prepared with the required condiments. My entire family likes them and that’s why we are regular customers of hers,” added San Mei, a young customer.