Paving the way

Lin said Xiadang's case typifies the challenges faced by the authorities in tackling poverty.

With its enclosed, mountainous terrain and undeveloped transportation infrastructure, families faced major difficulties in finding sources of income other than farming on the slopes.

Ye Zhongqiang, Party chief of Xiadang, said that for many low-income families in the township, the challenge of breaking out of poverty lay not only with the geographical limitations they faced but also with a lack of initiative by the villagers at times.

"Some villagers did not finish primary school, and others are illiterate," he said.

An outflow of young and middle-aged workers posed another challenge, with almost 70 percent of the township's population moving to urban areas for work.

Ye said a main aspect of the official poverty alleviation efforts lies in giving the families a stable source of income, adding, "The key is to fully take advantage of the resources in the area."

In Xiadang, the solution has been to add value to what the villagers have done best over generations - grow tea.

The subtropical highlands offered soil rich in the mineral selenium and also zinc, making them ideal areas to cultivate the crop, he said.

In 2014, with help from the authorities and an initial investment of about 4 million yuan from local banks, Xiadang launched a tea cooperative and factory, and registered a brand for its product.

The cooperative united individual growers, standardized the planting process and only allowed the use of organic fertilizers and pesticides.

It came up with a new business model that offered more than 26 hectares of tea plantations to rent for companies and individuals nationwide. For 20,000 yuan, a small plot can be rented for a year to grow tea. In return, clients receive 50 kilograms of tea.

Through a network involving dozens of cameras, clients can monitor the entire tea production process on their cellphones.

"The new business model opened a window for our farmers to boost their income. It is the easiest way we have found to do this," Ye said.

The cooperative can help a tea farmer earn 6,000 yuan a year from a plot covering 0.06 hectares, up from about 1,000 yuan in previous years.

The launch of the cooperative has improved life for Wang Daoquan, a 53-year-old villager in the township.

He and his mother used to live on a meager income from a tea plot of just 0.2 hectares. His mother, who has cataracts, is blind and cannot care for herself. Wang Daoquan has long been troubled by alcohol addiction, and his wife and children have left him.

"We were just getting by. It was never easy to live off a small piece of farmland," he said, adding that before 2014 he only made 2,000 yuan a year from selling tea leaves from his plot.

Unlike many of his peers who opted to leave the township for jobs in urban areas, which gave them a better income, Wang Daoquan remained to take care of his mother.

With the launch of the tea factory, he landed a job with a salary of 2,600 yuan a month, making his family one of the 118 households in the township to shake off poverty before last year.

The arrival of the new factory convinced Zhou Jianwei, a 38-year-old resident of the township, to return and work as a tea-making expert.

He said it was almost impossible previously to make a living from selling tea, adding, "The new business offered us a way to work not far from home."