Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu launches a pairing-up assistance program with Gongliu in 2010, offering ways for the county to move out of poverty toward prosperity. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Over the past 10 years, people living in Gongliu, a remote county in Xinjiang Tygur autonomous region, have found their own way out of poverty with the help of Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province.

Zhangjiagang launched a pairing-up assistance program with Gongliu in 2010, and helped the county in infrastructure construction, industrial development, education and healthcare, and talent training, offering ways for the county to move out of poverty toward prosperity.

Statistics show that Zhangjiagang has injected more than 600 million yuan ($90.66 million) into Gongliu to help the latter launch 163 projects for improving the health and quality of life and the well-being of its people. A renovation project was carried out in 2011, helping 13,140 households move into new houses.

A total of 24 poverty alleviation projects have been funded by Zhangjiagang since 2010 to promote the development of local industries and cultivate high-level talents. These projects have injected new growth into Gongliu's social and economic development.

Zhangjiagang also sent professionals and experts such as medical teams and teachers to Gongliu, and they are now playing a significant role in improving the county's healthcare system, as well as helping to promote the development of its education.