Yanhe Tujia autonomous county, in Guizhou province, is a different place these days. Once an area of deep poverty, it has shaken off penury with the help of Zhangjiagang. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Shangang village in the Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone -- located in East China's Jiangsu province -- won a national honor for its efforts in the country's poverty alleviation work, local news reported on March 5.

The news was released at a grand gathering held in the national capital Beijing on Feb 25, to mark the country's accomplishments in poverty alleviation and to honor its model poverty fighters.

Over the past eight years, Shangang village has helped six impoverished villages inside and outside Jiangsu to remove themselves from the poverty list and explored new models in poverty alleviation involving such things as offering training courses.

According to statistics, Zhangjiagang has offered paired assistance to 14 counties and districts in poverty-stricken areas in eight provinces, regions and municipal cities -- such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Southwest China's Guizhou province.

More than 260 professionals and government officials were sent to these places to help locals tackle poverty.

Yanhe Tujia autonomous county in Guizhou province, once a place of deep poverty, established pairing-up assistance relationship with Zhangjiagang in 2017. Over the last few years, Zhangjiagang has made great efforts to reduce poverty in the county by boosting employment and industrial development, with a number of industrial projects launched in Yanhe that are helping to consolidate development there.

Thanks to the efforts made by Zhangjiagang, Yanhe finally officially emerged from poverty last year and it has explored its own ways to develop local industries including the cultivation of black mushroomsfungus, tea and traditional Chinese medicinal materials -- helping local farmers become prosperous and lead better lives.