En Route to Rebirth

In early autumn,reporters visited different places in Shanxi Province’s Zuoquan, a county that shook off poverty in 2019 and is now moving into the next development phase: rural revitalization. The smiling faces of residents captured on camera present the happiness their hard work has brought.

Located at the foot of the Taihang Mountains,the county describes its layout as “80-percent mountains, 10-percent water and 10-percent farmland.” Its mountainous surroundings in the past posed a hurdle to economic development. Today,Zuoquan has turned disadvantage into advantage,transforming itself into a new hub for industrial development.

The county’s villages and townships tailor different industries to fit their unique conditions, from specialty agriculture, photography and painting bases to cultural tourism. Through cooperatives, trusteeships and other pioneering business forms, farmers can now truly taste the fruits of reform and development. BR

()

1. A farmer holds up alpine cold water crabs ready for the market at a crab farm in Xiakou Village of Zuoquan County, Shanxi Province,on September 17

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

Comments to taoxing@cicgamericas.com

5. Kang Jianzhong, founder of Shunkang Company, a food processing company in Matian Town of Zuoquan, poses with one of the company’s advertising posters on September 17. The poster’s animated character is based on Kang himself

2. Farmers harvest their tomatoes at a vegetable greenhouse in the demonstration zone of Zuoquan’s Qinquan Town on September 19

4. A farmer checks up on newborn lambs at a sheep breeding base in Hanwang Town of Zuoquan on September 16

3. A girl and her grandmother stand in front of their renovated house in Zecheng Village of Zuoquan on September 17. The village is one of the best-developed in the county’s painting base project