"We are truly grateful for the policy of the Party, which encourages farmers to develop forestry to alleviate poverty and become prosperous," said Huang Chuanrong, a farmer in Ningde, East China's Fujian Province, who succeeded in escaping poverty through planting.

Ningde is a city located in the northeast part of Fujian Province, with a land area of 13,400 square kilometers. It used to be one of the 18 concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas in the country, making it the dream of the people in the region to overcome poverty and live a comfortable life.

The land of eastern Fujian has undergone great changes and has become a model of poverty alleviation with Chinese characteristics. For decades, the Ningde model of precise poverty alleviation has been formed through unremitting efforts from the grassroots officials and masses.

Enduring efforts

Houyang village is located in Zhouning county in Ningde. The family forest farm initiated by the elderly Huang Zhenfang has not only created a unique path to prosperity through forestry but has also made outstanding contributions to regional afforestation.

"Before the policy of reform and opening-up, our family was very poor. My elderly father was a thin and weak farmer. Since I was 13 years old, I have been helping my father in the fields, hoping to lighten the burden on our family," Huang Chuanrong, Huang Zhenfang's son, told the Global Times.

According to Huang, at that time, there were hardly any trees in the village, and soil erosion was very severe, with heavy rain often causing landslides.

"We really appreciate the Party's policy," Huang sincerely told the reporter, expressing that the opportunity to establish a family forest farm originated from the Party's guiding policy for the benefit of the people.

In 1983, Huang Zhenfang led his whole family to embark on the path of afforestation and land reclamation under the guidance of "No.1 central document." It took three years for the afforestation area to expand from the original 50 mu (3.3 hectares) to 1,207 mu.

"We received recognition from the county Party committee and government, and the villagers saw the positive results coming from the policy of the Party and joined us one after another," Huang Chuanrong said.

However, the development of forestry has the problem of long growth cycles and slow returns.

"To solve the problem of funding shortages, my resourceful grandfather started trying intercropping potatoes, corn, konjac, and tea in the forest, using the short-term growing crops to support the long-term development of the trees. This not only increased the family income but also effectively utilized land resources, improving our family's life as well," Huang Chuanrong's daughter Huang Juanjuan told the Global Times.

At the same time, the quality of the soil improved due to the use of fertilizers for crop cultivation. "It was truly a remarkable idea," she said.

Currently, the Huang family's household forest farm still regards agricultural production as its main business. They cultivate over 100 mu of medicinal herbs such as Huangjing, raise 200 beehives, and grow crops like sweet potatoes.

Their annual income exceeds 300,000 yuan ($42,000), and they have helped more than 50 villagers to become prosperous.

The story of Huang Zhenfang's forest farm has deeply influenced the descendants of the Huang family. Huang Yubin, the grandson of the resourceful elderly man, has helped promote the agricultural and forestry products of Zhouning to a broader market through the development of e-commerce, further consolidating the poverty alleviation achievements of the village.

According to Huang Yubin, he returned to his hometown to start a business in 2021 and established a company focusing on e-commerce in January 2023, listing more than 20 agricultural, forestry, and cultural products. Huang is currently connecting with relevant companies in Fujian Province, trying to use livestreaming to promote sales.

"I used to be a designer, so I thought of creating cultural and creative products, such as turning the herbal medicines into sachets and selling them online," he told the Global Times, expressing his pride in using his expertise to contribute to the revitalization of his hometown.

More rural revitalization channels

There are more cases in Ningde city to promote rural revitalization. Gutian county is the largest edible fungi production base in the country. Since 2012, the county Party committee and government have made efforts to promote the transformation and upgrading of the edible fungi industry.

Among them, one important aspect is to improve the cultivation conditions of edible fungi, aiming to solve the safety hazards and high labor intensity of grass mushroom shed.

After in-depth research on farmers and combining various biological characteristics of edible fungi with current production technologies at home and abroad, a series of edible fungi mushroom shed types have been designed for farmers to choose from.

Constructing photovoltaic mushroom sheds is an important path to explore the combination of the edible mushroom industry and the new photovoltaic industry. It is also an important measure to reduce the cost of standardized mushroom shed transformation for mushroom farmers.

According to Zheng Kuidong, deputy secretary of the county Party committee, since May 2021, a total of nine photovoltaic mushroom shed projects have been implemented in the county. After the completion of the projects, it is estimated that 37,058.4 tons of water can be saved and 23,761.9 tons of carbon dioxide emission can be reduced annually.

"Photovoltaic mushroom sheds can effectively achieve the generation of green electricity and the cultivation of high-quality mushrooms," Zheng told the Global Times.

"Traditional mushroom sheds are made of wooden boards. The conditions of photovoltaic mushroom sheds have improved significantly because they are not affected by typhoons and can maintain a stable temperature range suitable for mushroom growth," Yu Xinkao, a local mushroom farmer, told the Global Times.

He added that the improved conditions of the sheds have significantly increased mushroom production. Yu also mentioned that when encountering technical difficulties, there are designated government workers who can be contacted to provide on-site assistance.

According to Zheng, the county promotes rural revitalization through various channels such as increasing income for mushroom farmers, operating and managing cooperatives led by Party branches, and connecting production and sales through large-scale commercial supermarkets of leading enterprises. "I have great confidence in the continued development of photovoltaic mushroom sheds in the future," Yu said.

A new round of large-scale rain and snow weather should hit the country starting from Tuesday night, and it is expected that from Wednesday to Friday, the central and eastern regions of China will experience another round of large-scale rain and snow, the meteorological departments warned on Tuesday.

In the past two days, northern China, the Huang-Huai region and other areas of China have experienced the first rain and snow storms of the winter. During the day on Monday, this first round of rain and snow gradually weakened and ended. 

However, from Tuesday night to Saturday, a new cold wave is predicted to affect most parts of China from west to east, making it the strongest cold air front so far this winter. Temperatures in most parts of China will drop by 8-12 C, and in some areas, the temperature drop may exceed 14 C, leading Beijing to issue a blue cold wave warning and a yellow blizzard warning on Tuesday.

The heavy snowfall areas in northern China and the Yellow-Huaihe region overlap with the areas that experienced heavy snowfall on December 10, and daily snowfall in these regions is expected to be extreme. Influenced by the cold wave, temperatures in the central and eastern regions will continue to decrease, and the lowest temperature in northern China, the Yellow-Huaihe region and other areas will approach or even break the historical record for this period, according to meteorological departments.

Meteorologists said that this cold wave will be fierce, with a large drop in temperatures and severe snowstorms, which may put significant pressure on transportation and lead to an increased risk of accidents. Moreover, special attention needs to be paid to safety hazards caused by snowstorms, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

To cope with the snowy weather, the Beijing municipal bureau of public security traffic management has established a snow road traffic emergency support command center. According to the department, they have initiated a high-level duty plan to strengthen the deployment of police forces and traffic maintenance guidance in key areas, roads, bridges, intersections, as well as areas with steep slopes and that are prone to icing. Also, they have actively coordinated with emergency response units for snow emergencies and promptly implemented ice removal and snow melting measures to minimize the impact of snowfall and icing on traffic.

In addition, the new round of rain and snow has entered a more complex phase. Freezing rain may occur in the central part of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, southern part of North China's Shanxi Province, and central-northern part of Central China's Henan Province, so extra attention should be paid to the dangers brought by blizzards and freezing rain and snow. 

It is also worth mentioning that the cold air will not influence the south of the Yangtze River and South China regions from Wednesday to the Thursday, and temperatures in these areas will still be high. For example, the highest temperature in cities like Nanchang and Fuzhou will reach 26 C. However, these areas will soon be hit by a strong "pressure" from the cold air. It is expected that around Saturday, the highest temperature in these areas will generally drop to around 5 C. 

The meteorological departments reminded the public not to underestimate the power of this new cold wave. People in the above-mentioned areas should closely monitor local warning and forecast information, take measures to keep warm and pay attention to fire and electrical safety.

Experts said that overall the world is experiencing a warming trend, and the rising sea temperatures caused by El Nino have increased the moisture content in the air. As such, the precipitation and snowfall this round will be quite unique, with a higher water content, resulting in wetter and heavier snow. 

In case of a sharp drop in temperatures during the cold wave, areas should prepare for freezing rain, especially in mountainous areas where temperatures may be lower than in the plain areas. This is highly likely to have a serious impact on infrastructure such as the electrical grid and agriculture, so local authorities need to make advance preparations, Ma warned.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged all-out efforts in emergency response and ensuring a warm and safe winter for the people.