Ｐｒｅｍｉｅｒ ａｎｄ Ｌｉｔｔｌｅ Ｇｉｒｌ

Premier Wen Jiabao was a deputy elected by 3.9 million CPC members in Sichuan Province to the 17th national congress of the CPC held in Beijing in October 2007. On the morning of October 16， 2007， Wen and other 68 members from Sichuan convened for a panel discussion on issues such as integrated development of urban and rural areas and people's lives in the province. After the discussion， Wen got out two photographs. In one photograph a girl looks sick and dressed in winter's cloths. In the other photograph， the same girl looks healthy and grins happily with her parents. The girl was Wang Lijun (Wang is her surname and Lijun is a given name proximately synonymous with Helen in English). Premier Wen asked about the girl.

It turned out that the premier met Wang on October 1， 2006 on his inspection tour in a town in Suining City， Sichuan Province. That afternoon， the premier Wen was visiting the area around Chongqing as a severe drought had hit the metropolis and Wang， dressed in a winter jacket given her in the previous winter， was scouting the streets in the hope of finding discarded mineral water bottles so that she could have some cash to raise a rabbit. She ran into a crowd in the street. The man in the middle of the group looked quite familiar. Then it occurred to Wang that she had seen the face on television news. Hearing the premier asked a farmer if he had adequate food at home and if he had any problems that government could help solve， the little girl wondered if she could tell the premier that her family would soon run out of food. She wanted to talk to the premier but hesitated if she should approach him and raise the question. Pretty soon， the premier and the farmer ended their talk. Wang remembered the classroom manner and raised her hand to catch the attention of the premier. Wen Jiabao had seen the girl first before the girl raised her hand to ask questions. \"Grandpa， can I say something to you?\" Wang asked in the local dialect timidly. The local CPC secretary Cui Baohua interpreted for her. Smiling， the premier bent to the height of the girl and said he was listening. Wang said that her family was running out of food， that they lived in a small dilapidated adobe house， that her father was 61 years old and in poor health， and that her mother was blind. She hoped the grandpa could help her family so that her parents and she could live in a house that would not leak and her mother could see. Wen Jiabao asked her name and where she lived. The girl answered. Wen instructed Cui Baohua to make inquiry and help. Then Wen said to the girl， \"I will surely help you out. You must study hard at school and be an excellent student and let me know your academic performance.\" Wen and Wang posed for a photograph.

After the premier left the town， local residents said to Wang Lijun how lucky she was to have met the premier and taken photo with him. Wang was pleased but soon she committed herself to the task of finding discarded plastic water bottles. She came home in the evening and remembered to tell her father that she had met the premier early the town. Her father did not believe her.

In the evening， a group of local leaders came to visit the family. They did live in a small dilapidated house. The mother was born blind and her congenital eye disorder was untreatable. The father was basically healthy. The family was poverty-stricken. The small house was leaky. The leaders donated 6，500 yuan to the family then and there. The next day， the local government organized a charity activity. On October 10th， a government agency and a business offered to build a house for the Wang family. On November 15， 2006， a three-storied house came into being， with two pigsties， a toilet， a methane pool， and a well. The local government agencies donated furniture and a television set. A local feed company donated five piglets to the family. The local government put the family on a list of low-income families for special government subsidies. The local school waived the Wang Lijun's tuition and provided her with a monthly grant of 150 yuan for her boarding and meals at the school. In total， the family received 60，000 in total as charity donations from the government agencies， social organizations and individuals.

The concerns of the premier， the local government and society at large brought great changes to the needy family and lifted it out of poverty. Wang Lijun has become outgoing and the abjection in her face is gone forever. Now she helps her parents do house chores and sometimes she helps her neighbors with small things.

In March 2007， the premier called the province government to find out how Wang Lijun and her parents had been helped. Pretty soon， the premier received two photos from Cui Baohua showing before and after the Wangs received help. On the afternoon of October 19th， 2007， Wen came to the Sichuan Province delegation and handed the two photos to the delegation. Cui Baohua， also a deputy from Sichuan， reported to the premier that the district government was improving a system to help poverty-stricken residents get rid of poverty so that the general livelihood could be enhanced.