Guizhou, Zhejiang team up for joint development

A meeting between government officials of Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces is held in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, on May 31. [Photo/ddcpc website]

A delegation from Southwest China's Guizhou province visited Zhejiang province in East China on May 30, with the aim of sharing and studying their experience of socioeconomic development. 

This marked the continuation of the long and fruitful friendship between Guizhou and Zhejiang, and the result of the deepening of exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in various fields. 

East-West collaboration and targeted assistance

In 1996, a poverty alleviation cooperation project between Ningbo city in Zhejiang, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture and Qianxinan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture in Guizhou was officially launched. In 2013, Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, agreed to help Qiandongnan. 

Due to their joint efforts, in 2018, Danzhai, Majiang, Shibing, as well as Zhenyuan Sansui and Leishan counties in Qiandongnan, and Anlong county in Qianxinan were lifted out of poverty. 

Also, since the launch of strategic cooperation between Guizhou and Zhejiang in 2016, the two provinces have seized the opportunity presented by tourism and sent more than 10 million visitors to each other.

Farmers pick white tea in Puan county of Guizhou province on March 31. [Photo/ddcpc website] 

Industrial assistance

Since the late 1990s, Anji county in Zhejiang province has embarked on the road to prosperity thanks to its white tea industry. By the end of 2022, the annual output value of Anji white tea reached 3.2 billion yuan ($449.51 billion), with a brand value of 4.85 billion yuan, helping the per capita income of farmers increase by 8,800 yuan. 

In 2018, Huangdu village in Anji county donated 6 million white tea seedlings to Guizhou's Puan county. 

In Tunshang village of Puan, local tea gardens planting white tea have helped more than 20,000 local farmers gain employment and generated over 2.1 million yuan since 2020. 

To develop the deep processing and sales of white tea planted in Puan, Zhejiang has invested in a white tea industrial park integrating production, processing and management in the county, helping it carry out tea processing, brand promotion and product sales. 

Nowadays, Puan county has expanded the planting area of Anji white tea to 8.6 square kilometers.

Medics at the First People's Hospital of Kaili in Guizhou province carry out an operation under the guidance of medical experts from Hangzhou. [Photo/ddcpc website]

Collaborating to improve living standards

In terms of medical and health care, 118 medical and health institutions in Zhejiang have provided assistance to 105 of their counterparts in Guizhou. 

From 2016 to 2020, hospitals in Zhejiang helped their targeted hospitals in Guizhou complete the setting and development of 658 specialties, and carried out 14 scientific research cooperation projects. 

Medical experts from Zhejiang conducted training for some 197,000 people, gave 57,800 technical demonstrations, and carried out 53,600 ward rounds and on-site guidance in Guizhou. 

In addition, Hangzhou and Ningbo cities in Zhejiang also guided residents in Guizhou to start their own businesses. As of 2020, Hangzhou helped Qiandongnan train e-commerce talents over 4,000 times, and assisted 1,665 successful Guizhou natives in returning to their hometown to start businesses.