China's export model

Officially introduced in 2013 at Shibadong, "targeted poverty alleviation" rejects one-size-fits-all aid. Instead, it assesses local problems — commonly scarce land, missing industries, or failing infrastructure — before designing customized solutions, ranging from building new schools to fostering new businesses. The approach lifted 98.99 million rural Chinese out of abject poverty between 2013 and 2020, according to official data. That meant an average of more than 12 million people a year — roughly the population of a medium-sized country.

Lu, assigned earlier this year to oversee Shibadong's industrial development, has become the idea's latest ambassador. In late March, shortly after taking up his post, he traveled to Laos for a weeklong exchange. He visited three Lao cities, including the capital Vientiane, for face-to-face meetings with officials and community leaders — recounting Shibadong's path out of poverty and encouraging them to follow suit.

"We also want to bring them here — to walk through Shibadong and see it with their own eyes," Lu said. "More exchanges, more mutual visits. That's how we share our experience and help them advance their own fight against poverty."

By sharing Shibadong's hard-won lessons in poverty eradication, Lu is following the path blazed by Shi Jintong, the village's Party secretary. Born in Shibadong in 1979, Shi inherited a village with no roads, no industry, and no visible future.

For Shi, the core of Shibadong's success lies in replicable principles. "First, you must accurately measure the extent of poverty and understand its causes," he said.

Every country defines poverty according to its own development context, Shi noted. China's 2013 standard — 2,300 yuan ($340) per year at 2010 rates, adjusted for inflation since — may differ from other nations' benchmarks, but the diagnostic method behind it is transferable.

A second factor, he said, is stimulating "internal motivation" — the poor's own willingness to change. "People need both policies and a sense of support," Shi explained, calling this a model worth borrowing.

Third, solutions must fit local realities."Shibadong's method seeks truth from facts, adapts to conditions, and offers targeted guidance," he said. Unlike the indiscriminate "flooding" of past relief efforts, the new approach is precise — identifying what a community lacks and helping it get exactly that.

Shi traveled to Thinsom twice. "The first time was to learn — to see their geography, living conditions, industries, and incomes," he said. "Later, we sat down with Lao officials and villagers to discuss development — and that's how our partnership began." He noted that Thinsom's infrastructure, education, industries, and living environment closely resembled those of China's villages before poverty alleviation.

From diagnosis to delivery

Turning principles into practice fell to China International Water & Electric Corp, a subsidiary of the State-owned China Communications Construction Group.

Wang Jiang, CWE's Laos branch general manager, said his team spent weeks in early 2025 doing door-to-door surveys.

"The essence of targeted poverty alleviation is precision — we want to avoid the 'flood irrigation' approach," Wang said via a video call from Vientiane. "We believe that actually going out and surveying what the people wish for today are the prerequisite for making our follow-up work precise and effective."

"Villagers said the canal had silted up, and parents worried who would watch their toddlers while they worked elsewhere," he added. "So we tackled those two things first."

By June 2025 — ahead of the rainy season planting — the 8.6-kilometer canal was dredged and reinforced. Water from the famous Kuang Si waterfall now flows steadily to the paddies. "After we opened up the irrigation system, farming could go from one season to two," Wang said.

In September 2025, a new kindergarten opened, built by CWE with input from Shibadong's team. About 40 children — many left behind by migrant parents — now learn basic Lao and occasionally a Chinese nursery rhyme.

Next to the kindergarten, a small library stocked with picture books was added under an educational program named after the Lancang-Mekong River. Known as the Lancang River in China and the Mekong in Laos, the shared name symbolizes the friendship between the two countries.

"On the opening day, our volunteers sang with the kids. (When you hear) the laughter — that's when you know it's real," Wang said.