Learning lessons at the grassroots

Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress, China Daily sent six reporters to live in poor villages for a month to see how China's poverty eradication plan is improving people's lives. Three of those stories were published on Wednesday, so these are the final three personal accounts of life in some of the nation's poorest regions.

Fighting poverty with resilience and hope

After spending a month in Gufang, a village in Huichang county, Jiangxi province, I am now well acquainted with fish farming, greenhouse gardening and raising pigs - things I had no idea about before.

Medical refunds give hope to impoverished rural households

When I entered Zheng Liangshui's house, I could hardly believe the 50-year-old farmer has been severely ill with cancer. That was because his well-furnished three-story home, containing a tricycle-trailer, a motorcycle and electrical appliances, indicated a decent standard of living for a rural resident.

Professor prioritizes protecting old houses

Zhu Liangwen, a white-haired retired architecture professor from Kunming University of Science and Technology, is in a race against time to protect traditional houses in Yunnan province.

Beijing becomes greener, welcomes back wild birds

A private home in an old hutong, or alleyway, in downtown Beijing has welcomed a group of rare guests - five fledgling swallows.

Around China

Yunnan

BRICS builds cooperation

BRICS countries will continue taking measures to further strengthen multilateral exchanges and cooperation on education, according to a declaration signed in Beijing on Wednesday.

Internet Plus aids poverty reduction

China will make full use of Internet Plus to involve people from all walks of life in helping the remaining 43 million people in the country who live in poverty.

IN BRIEF

Rural areas enjoy green shoots of prosperity

Editor's note: In the run-up to the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress,

Tourism begins to make a mark on the mountain

Before I arrived in Kangxian, one of the poorest counties in Northwest China's Gansu province, I thought many of the villages in the mountainous region would be dilapidated, with rows of half-broken houses, bumpy mud roads and livestock roaming everywhere. I abandoned that impression in the first few days after my arrival.

Learning lessons about the countryside

Like most Chinese born and raised in cities, I have no direct knowledge about real life in rural China.