On July 29, 2021, it was the first day of the Yan'an trip for African Ambassadors’ to China including the Permanent Representative of the African Union to China, the ambassadors of Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan and Zimbabwe and representatives of African students. More than 20 Africans visited the industrial poverty alleviation demonstration base in Nangou Village, located in Ansai District of Yan’an.
The ambassadors are visiting the exhibition of the development history of Nangou Village
The ambassadors visited the exhibition of the Nangou Village Industrial Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Base and listened to the introduction of Nangou Village's poverty alleviation experience. Nangou Village used to be a poor village with high poverty rate, low rate of land utilization, and weak industrial base. In the journey of poverty alleviation, Nangou Village adopted the development model such as "guidance of Party branch, mobilization of enterprises, cooperative management, demonstration of Party member, and participation of masses ". Through strengthening Party branch team, changing farmers’ thoughts, introducing enterprises, deepening reform of the rural collective property rights system, vigorously developing modern agriculture and rural tourism, and achieving poverty alleviation in 2018. Specifically, the development of Nangou Village mainly relies on the "Three-change" reform, that is, Changing resources into assets to activate sleepy resources; changing capital to equity to increase capital income; changing farmers into shareholders to broaden the income increase channels. By establishing a profit link mechanism among Enterprises, village collectives, and the masses, Nangou Village has found a unique way of poverty alleviation and finally realized the goals of farmers affluence, strong agriculture and beautiful rural area.
The ambassadors are listening to the local officials introducing the modern agricultural characteristics of Nangou Village
Then, the ambassadors came to the apple orchard, which is also a training base for emerging professional farmers in Ansai District, Yan'an City. The local officials used Apple Orchard as an example to introduce Nangou Village's experience in promoting the reform of the rural collective property rights system and exploring the development of modern agriculture.
The ambassadors are communicating with scholars from the CAI
The ambassadors agreed that this visit was of positive significance and gained a lot. Ambassador Rahamtalla M. Osman, Permanent Representative of the African Union to China, wrote down the message," Our visit to the village of Nangou was very impressive and we enjoyed the beauty of the place and learned a lot about the poverty alleviation experience which was really wonderful." The Namibian ambassador to China said," My feelings about this trip are very positive. I like what the CPC cadres are doing in the branches to make the masses very conscious. I like the cooperation of the village for the prosperity for all. I like the way they to respect the core leadership of the CPC. I wish them well." The Cultural Counselor of the Embassy of Cameroon in China said," The particularity of this day is the visit we made at Nangou village. It was a rewarding experience. I saw how the people gradually move from the poverty and earn their living very well. The lesson I learnt is that agriculture and breeding and the main activities that may lead quickly to development."
Zimbabwe's ambassador to China is listening to Apple's introduction
The ambassadors affirmed China's achievements in poverty alleviation. The ambassador of Burkina Faso exclaimed," In such a difficult environment and conditions, the development of such a scene today, it is simply amazing to me. Under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, people summed up experience in practice and developed rural areas. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the Chinese people have achieved a moderately prosperous society in all respects and eliminated absolute poverty. It is the centenary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China. It is a miracle that China has achieved so much in the history of the world." The Cameroonian ambassador believed that China’s achievements were not achieved overnight, but the result of unremitting efforts and a victory for collectivism. The situation in Nangou Village is an excellent example of this, where the small apple has made a big industry. The Ambassador of Zimbabwe praised the ecological environment here.
The ambassadors are listening to the local officials introducing the operation and management mechanism of the apple orchard
In addition to admiration, the ambassadors think more about how to apply China's poverty alleviation experience to Africa. They communicated with local officials and scholars from the China-Africa Institute around the actual problems in their respective countries. The ambassadors of Ethiopia and Zimbabwe were very interested in the operational details of the "Three-change" reform in Nangou Village, including the distribution of benefits in the shareholding system, follow-up pension insurance, the role of the government, the nature of the enterprise, property rights and use rights, etc. The Ambassador of Zimbabwe not only focused on Nangou Village, he also wanted to understand how people in other parts of China achieve prosperity. The Ambassador of Mauritania believes that Nangou Village adopts a series of refined and localized industrial models. He wanted to know whether this model was the original creation of Nangou Village or was widely used throughout the country, and whether this model could play a role in Africa.
The African Ambassadors' trip to Yan'an organized by the China-Africa Institute received strong support and help from the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanxi Province and relevant departments of Yan'an City.