Success From the Ground Up

China’s grassroots officials play an important role in winning the last battle against absolute poverty

- Xia Yuanyuan and Ge Lijun

With muddy hands and shoes, Cao Jun is intently working with local villagers in a strawberry greenhouse. It’s hard to imagine that he was once a suit-wearing government official in China’s capital Beijing.

Since leaving the bustle of the big city, Cao, 41, has been serving as village Party first secretary since 2017 in Shangyinjia Village, Longnan City in northwest China’s Gansu Province, currently finishing off his second village posting.

Cao is one of 200,000 government workers in China that have been sent to the front lines as “first secretaries” in the campaign to eradicate absolute poverty in rural areas.

The term “first secretary” is specific to China’s poverty alleviation program. In early 2015, a program was launched to send this large cohort of government workers to villages to improve rural governance and aid in poverty relief. The government workers were sent mainly to underdeveloped areas to serve as village chiefs. The candidates were selected from a wide range of fields, including government departments, universities, state-owned enterprises and civil associations. The posting period of these first secretaries ranges from one to three years.

Serving the people

In Shangyinjia Village, Cao has been seen as a family member by villagers. Since his arrival, he has promoted the improvement of village roads and the repair of street lights and helped develop the poverty alleviation industry, enabling villagers to have a higher income and enjoy a better quality of life.