Xiaohe Village was once an extremely poor village near CMOC China concession. CMOC, twinned with the village in 2017, has succeeded in lifting the village out of poverty and transformed it into a locally renowned tourist village of lotus. Residents' lives have undergone drastic changes.   

As a Chinese old saying goes, “to get rich, first repair the roads”. Three years ago, the roads in the village were still primitive gravel roads. It took at least an hour to get to the county a few kilometers away. CMOC has invested more than 3 million RMB to build roads. By the end of 2018, 7.5 km of asphalt roads have been built, significantly improving the mobility of the villagers. In addition, CMOC has invested more than two million RMB to build other infrastructures, such as a cultural square, to improve the living environment for residents.

      Photo: 7.5 km of newly constructed asphalt roads 

To reduce poverty, it is important to help people to become self-sufficient by creating wealth themselves. Given the shortage of arable land in the village, CMOC has tried to find other means of development. The name of the village “Xiaohe” in Chinese means "small river", which illustrates its advantages of natural resources. CMOC has invested millions of yuan in the construction of 300 hectares of lotus ponds. When the lotus flowers bloom, many tourists come to admire the landscape, and Xiaohe has become the famous “lotus village”. To attract more tourists, CMOC has built other support facilities such as visitor center and water park. In addition, CMOC has helped the villagers to renovate their houses into guesthouses. Today there are more than 40 guesthouses in the village.  

Photo: lotus pond in Xiaohe Village  

Apart from tourism, CMOC has also tried to increase income sources of villagers by teaching them practical techniques and skills, guiding them to develop special industries, such as beekeeping and pig farming. CMOC employees often promote local specialties of Xiaohe Village, such as honey and lotus root, on social networks; the canteens of CMOC China’s subsidiaries also give priority to purchasing local agricultural products. Until now, the CMOC canteens have purchased more than 1 million RMB of corn grits, sweet potatoes, potatoes, lotus roots and other agricultural products from local villages.   

Xiaohe Village is only an example of CMOC's actions in poverty alleviation. Up to now, CMOC China has helped more than 2,000 households in 10 villages to get out of poverty.