Lyu Xiaoxun, a news commentator with the People’s Daily, has devoted himself to poverty alleviation work in Yuying village of north China's Hebei province for two years, as first secretary.

In 2010, after graduating from university, Lyu Xiaoxun joined the People's Daily, an official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and became a news commentator in the commentary department.

(Photo courtesy of Lyu Xiaoxun)

In 2018, People's Daily recruited a village secretary for Luanping county, Chengde City, Hebei Province, as part of efforts to promote local development. Lyu Xiaoxun applied for the post and was later selected to be the first secretary of Yuying Village in Luanping county.

Over the past two years, Yuying village has been comprehensively lifted out of poverty. Old houses have been renovated and several industrial poverty alleviation projects have been promoted.

In just over two months, Lyu Xiaoxun visited more than 120 poor households at home and gained a better understanding of the causes of poverty in poor families. He also set up a social media chat group for village affairs in order to release village level announcements in a timely manner.

After doing due research, Lyu Xiaoxun suggested that local villagers plant other crops with higher economic value, instead of corn, which had limited economic benefits.

"Villagers used to plant corn and hope for the best. In good harvests, the net income per mu (667 square meters) is less than 1,000 yuan (about 141 U.S. dollars). In a bad harvest, the net income per mu could be 200-300 yuan, or they could even lose money, " said Lyu Xiaoxun.

After switching to okra, villagers can now generate up to 5,000 yuan of gross income for every mu cultivated. "Last year, the villagers planted 13 mu of okra and sold more than 75,000 yuan in total."

Starting in 2019, Lyu Xiaoxun began to help rebuild the village and construct new bridges with the sponsorship of social organizations. In addition to strengthening the original bridges, a new river dam was also built with strong support from the People's Daily and relevant departments of Luanping county.

"In the past, people said that Yuying was a good village but full of boredom. Now people say that Yuying is a comfortable village. I believe that there is great potential here!" Lyu Xiaoxun said.