Membersof the poverty alleviation team of USTB visit Qin’an for beekeeping project. Photo from USTB.

During the Spring Festival of 2020, Mr. SHEN Wei, director of USTB’s Poverty Alleviation Office and the temporary deputy head of Qin’an County, Gansu Province, felt anxious regarding the progress of epidemic prevention and control measures and poverty alleviation work in Qin’an County. (www.youth.cn, Beijing, April 15.)

Qin’an, with a total population of nearly 620,000 and located in the concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken area of Liupanshan, has been designated as a national-level poor county and is supported by USTB. However, in the spring of 2020, it was considered to be officially lifted out of poverty.

In a meeting between Mr. SHEN and the director of a special public welfare fund in Beijing, in order to seek protection for the medical staff, Mr. SHEN said: “I’m concerned about the epidemic, but we can’t work on the front line. Qin’an County has just been lifted out of poverty. Now is a critical period for epidemic prevention and control and poverty alleviation measures. I made a report to the Party Committee of USTB to seek resources. The university has allocated 100,000 RMB to Qin’an County for an emergency. I wonder whether you also can help us as well…”

After hanging up the phone, Mr. SHEN put on his mask and went to USTB to attend a video conference on poverty alleviation in Yunnan Province and the advancement of systematic poverty relief work under the Ministry of Education. It was pointed out during the meeting that all departments and organizations should promote poverty alleviation and epidemic prevention and control measures together, strive to minimize the impact of the epidemic on current poverty alleviation work, and work to complete 2020 poverty alleviation tasks with a high degree of quality.

“What we were asked to do in the meeting is what our temporary Party branch of USTB in Qin’an County is already doing. Our work is to win the battle against the epidemic by making full use of the time we have.” Mr. SHEN is also the temporary secretary of the Party branch of USTB in Qin’an County.

During the epidemic period, the temporary Party branch applied to USTB for 100,000 RMB for epidemic prevention and control measures, provided technical data, and donated 3,500 yuan in cash along with 800 masks to Qin’an County. LI Meng and LIANG Zhiyang, the first secretaries in Qin’an, used their own money to buy protective materials for the villagers; JIANG Lingbin, a first secretary who had left the office, returned to Beijing from Qin’an and got himself involved in the epidemic prevention and control work of USTB. In the process, USTB signed a cooperation agreement with the Qin’an County Education Bureau to provide free Internet courses to local teachers and students; USTB also helped the family of LIN Fengchun, Secretary of the Party branch of Daiping village, Wenfeng Town, Longxi County, Gansu Province, who died in the course epidemic prevention and control work, to apply for a 60,000 RMB public welfare donation.

Members of the poverty alleviation team of USTB distribute fertilizer to local farmers in Qin’an County. Photo from USTB

Among the temporary Party branches, there are four members who are graduate students of USTB: WANG Zilin, YANG Ziqi, YANG Yueya and FAN Yanglin. They have been carrying out the task of supporting education in Qin’an County.

At the time of the outbreak, all four members were in their own hometowns. They immediately set up the “A Letter to the Children" program, an online mental health education classroom where experts were invited to convey ideas and encourage students to follow the examples of the “heroes in harm’s way” so as to transmit the positive energy of fighting against the epidemic. They also collected more than 50 copies of newspapers and articles with the theme of “fighting against epidemic”. During this period, they cooperated with volunteers from graduate volunteer teaching teams of 10 universities including Hubei University, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, and China Foreign Affairs University, while calling on students in China’s western regions to support Wuhan with their words.

It was evening by the end of the meeting. That night, Mr. SHEN held a meeting of the temporary Party branch of USTB in Qin’an County via video conference to convey the spirit of the meeting he had just attended. It has always been Mr. SHEN’s motto to remain true to the Party’s original aspiration and keep the nation’s mission firmly in mind.

As early as late February, the poverty alleviation cadres of USTB returned to Qin’an with the goal of combining epidemic prevention and control with poverty alleviation. For the good of the people there, it is a battle than USTB cannot afford to lose.

SOURCE: Youth.cn, LI Chuan