Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu launches a pairing-up assistance program with Yanhe Tujia autonomous county in Guizhou in 2017, offering ways for the county to move out of poverty toward prosperity. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Due to the pairing-up support offered by Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in East China's Jiangsu province, Yanhe Tujia autonomous county in Guizhou province has eliminated absolute poverty, the provincial government announced on Nov 23.

Since launching a "pairing assistance" program in March 2017, Zhangjiagang has helped Yanhe Tujia in areas such as infrastructure construction, industrial development, education and healthcare, and talent training, offering ways for the county to escape poverty.

Since 2017, Zhangjiagang has sent more than 140 professionals to Yanhe to carry out 39 training courses to aid the development of the county's agriculture, education and healthcare.

Zhangjiagang had also allocated a special fund of 3 million yuan ($456,000) to carry out an agricultural project, which involves planting traditional Chinese medicine, to help promote Yanhe's industrial development.

"Due to the anti-poverty project supported by Zhangjiagang, I no longer need to leave my hometown to make a living," said a local farmer.

The two sides have also joined hands and set up online and offline platforms to promote local agricultural products from Yanhe, in turn increasing the incomes of impoverished residents.

A cooperative educational project was also launched by Zhangjiagang to help people gain confidence in their abilities to lift themselves out of poverty.