The Home Afar

By Li Fangfang

Though not from Xinjiang， Shao Xiangli con- siders the place his second home. In 2017， aged 40 and a civil servant with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in Beijing， the primary regulator of the country’s banking business， Shao applied to work in Urumqi， capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， under a government program that brings promising cadres into the region to support its development. In July that same year， he arrived in the city and started working at Xinjiang’s regional banking regulator.

But instead of sitting in his office in downtown Urumqi， Shao preferred to work more directly with the local people. Soon， he applied to work in Keqigiz， a village near the city of Artux in southwestern Xinjiang. He joined the village’s poverty alleviation campaign from January 2018 to May 2020.

During his two-year term as first secretary of the village， Shao worked with the head of the villagers’committee to manage the village’s daily affairs， including collective business， medical care as well as education—and sometimes even assuming the role of marriage counselor. First secretary in a village is usually a member of the Communist Party of China （CPC） selected from outstanding young cadres and reserve cadres of CPC organs at all levels to help with poverty alleviation and rural revitalization， whereas the villagers’ committee is the self-governing body of a village.

After finishing his term as first secretary， Shao returned to his job in Urumqi， but he still visits the village almost every month， offering a helping hand whenever he can. During one such a visit in the summer of 2021， he learned that a villager had slipped in the shower and sustained injuries， and he helped coordinate the matter with an insurance company so that the family could get the medical fees reimbursed.

“I was born in a rural area， so I think I better understand the countryside，” Shao told Beijing Review when explaining why he chose to work in a Xinjiang village.

During his two-year term in Keqigiz， he made the most of his banking expertise and applied for loans on behalf of the villagers’ committee to build factories based on the needs of the village， a place where over 60 percent of the people were living in absolute poverty—defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.90 per person per day.

For example， the village traditionally raised cattle but couldn’t get a good price for the fresh milk because locals heavily relied on sales agents. So Shao helped the villagers expand their old yogurt workshop into a modern yogurt factory， which not only constantly collects fresh milk from locals but also pro-vides dozens of additional jobs for them. After three years of development， the factory’s yogurt has become a commonly known brand name in neighboring cities， a feat well beyond Shao’s wildest expectations.

“Starting out， we never imagined the growth would be so substantial， but our initial thinking was to take things in this direction，” Shao said.

“The old workshop could only collect two tons of milk per day，” the village’s current first secretary Zhang Changjiang， whose term began in 2022， added. “It can collect nearly 20 tons of milk per day to produce yogurt，” Zhang told Beijing Review. The products are sold all the way from Artux to major cities nearby， including Kashgar， Hotan and Aksu.

“From traditional workshop to modern factory， this isn’t just an upgrade of itself. It has simultaneously improved the understanding of industrialization among local farmers，” Zhang Yueqi， Shao’s successor—serving in the village from 2020-22， said.

Shao， Zhang Yueqi and Zhang Changjiang are three high-level civil servants from Xinjiang’s regional banking regulator based in Urumqi. They were dispatched to the same village one after the other， almost like a relay race， since 2018 to assist in local projects—from poverty alleviation to rural revitalization.

Absolute poverty had been eradicated across China by the end of 2020， and rural revitalization has since become a major goal of the Central Government， which is to promote more balanced economic and social development， rebuild the nation’s rural economy and narrow the urban-rural development gap. The rural revitalization drive requires villagers’ committees to figure out how to grow their businesses and， subsequently， villagers’ incomes.

“The advantage of us finance experts slash officials is that we understand national policies as well as industrialization and finance； we can figure out effective local solutions together with the people，” Shao explained.

As first secretaries come in with a return date， nurturing local leadership and developing a collective industry based on the local market is one of their main tasks.

“We need to foster a stable and capable administrative team within the village，” Shao said. “The staff members of the villagers’ committee today all come from different educational backgrounds. They are younger than their predecessors and more capable.”

Xinjiang shook off absolute poverty in late 2020 and as the regional economy is now picking up pace， many young people spot new opportunities to benefit their careers， flocking to the region from far and wide.

In July 2020， President Xi Jinping in his reply to a letter from graduates who studied at Xinjiang’s Karamay campus of China University of Petroleum-Beijing encouraged college graduates across China to contribute more to their country and people.

Xi mentioned how he supported the choice of 118 among them to take up jobs with grassroots organizations in Xinjiang and work with people from all ethnic groups to transform China’s western region—which usually refers to Chongqing Municipality， Gansu， Yunnan， Guizhou， Qinghai， Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces， Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region， Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region， Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region—into a prosperous zone.

Twenty-one-year-old Long Junwen was one such graduate. A chemistry major， he realized Karamay， an oil city， could offer him long-term professional prospects. Although far from home， which is all the way in southwest China’s Sichuan Province， Long’s parents support their son’s ambition to carve out his own career path.

“Xinjiang is much more inclusive than I thought，”Long told Beijing Review. “It has leading companies， something that makes me and my parents confident about my future.”

Yu Yu， who holds a doctorate from Beijingbased Peking University， chose to start working in Xinjiang after his graduation in 2019. Born and bred in an inland city， he believed the developing border region with its diversified landscapes and cultures would allow him to better experience the real world off campus.

So when he heard about a job vacancy in the region， he weighed the pros and cons and eventually decided to take up a position on a villagers’ committee near Artux.

Though he majored in international relations， his current job deals with the trials and tribulations of many a rural family. He sees those trivial and repeated issues as a practical way to learn more about the real world. “It’s too early for me to study policy. I need to go and get real experience first，” Yu told China Youth Daily in 2021.

“Young people will usually work in village- or community-level positions for several years； they will get close to people and gain a direct understanding of the people’s needs，” Yao Ning， then Secretary of the CPC Bachu County Committee， told Beijing Review last summer. Bachu is a county with about 369，000 residents near the Taklamakan Desert.

Yao himself holds a doctorate in public administration from Tsinghua University. He has been in Xinjiang for eight years and currently serves as the Secretary of the CPC Kashgar Municipal Committee.

Yao’s choice to go to Xinjiang has motivated many young urbanites to go off and explore the unknown opportunities in developing places—which are in dire need of top-notch professionals.

Both of Yao’s children were born in Xinjiang.“I have always tried my best to improve the local economy， medical services and education. It’s like working for my family. Working hard to achieve local progress： That is my responsibility，” Yao said. BR