Ten-year efforts bring huge changes in mountainous and rural areas, writing a new chapter for rural revitalization and common prosperity

Since as early as 2012, when the 18th National Congress of the CPC was held, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has endeavored to realize targeted poverty reduction and alleviation, aiming to win the war against poverty and finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. The endeavors have led to a miracle in the history of humans' battle with poverty. By the end of 2020, all 98.99 million rural residents from impoverished villages had been lifted out of poverty, and absolute poverty has been eliminated from the country. Today, the country is striding ahead toward rural revitalization.

Whether for the war against poverty, or for rural revitalization, Sinopec has consistently implemented the instructions of President Xi Jinping and taken on the responsibility for poverty alleviation as a political task. Following the principles of adjusting and implementing measures according to local conditions, the company invested 2.4 billion yuan by the end of 2020 to provide pairing assistance and support for 750 villages in eight counties to get rid of poverty as scheduled. In 2021, the company released the "Plan for Supporting Rural Revitalization", promising not to reduce efforts, human input and funds for rural revitalization during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and specifying the minimum amount of financial support and the value of products it would help to market. Especially for the key western counties with poor natural environment, poor basic conditions and difficulties in consolidating the achievements in poverty eradication and implementing the rural revitalization strategy, the company took the initiative to explore new modes that could take advantage of the resources Sinopec could offer as a central enterprise to help drive rural revitalization. Sinopec played a more active role and took effective measures to help rural areas achieve high-level revitalization.

Ma Yongsheng, chairman of the board at China Petrochemical Corporation (second from left, first row) and his contingent visit Dongxiang autonomous county in Gansu province for a survey on local quinoa industry, and greet people who have got out of poverty

Remembering the instruction to assist poverty-stricken villages

Bulenggou village in Dongxiang autonomous county, Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture, Gansu province, had endured drought, poor traffic infrastructure and poverty for many years due to lack of water sources, roads and industries. On February 3, 2013, President Xi Jinping visited the steep mountain road, leaving behind an instruction of "ushering in water, smooth roads, and providing a new look to the village". In the same year, the CPC Central Committee entrusted Sinopec with the task of helping Dongxiang. Over the past 10 years, Sinopec has invested more than 700 million yuan in assistance; dispatched 11 cadres there for temporary work; implemented 236 assistance projects that benefited more than 154,000 people, and written the story of "building a new, happy and beautiful Dongxiang" in Gansu in the new era.

In order to promote the development of rural revitalization during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, in February 2023, Sinopec and the People's Government of Dongxiang Autonomous County of Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province signed a Framework Agreement on Sinopec's Five-Year Work Plan for Helping Dongxiang County. During the coming five years, Sinopec will continue to increase its assistance to Dongxiang, invest more than 500 million yuan in assistance to help the county to achieve the goal of comprehensive revitalization.

Sinopec actively explored the new sustainable development model of "planting + deep processing + brand building", and invested more than 100 million yuan to build a quinoa processing industrial park, planning to produce high value-added products such as quinoa noodles, quinoa beef noodles, quinoa biscuits and quinoa cereals

Dongxiang County Sinopec Middle School, a project supported by Sinopec

The hardened road to Bulenggou Village, which was built with the assistance of Sinopec

Comprehensive assistance to enable the people live a happy life

The designated assistance to Dongxiang in Gansu province is only a microcosm of Sinopec's paired support and assistance projects. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, Sinopec has followed the unified deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council; closely targeted the poverty alleviation goals; cared for the people in need; and made every effort to help the eight poverty-hit counties and several hundred villages under their jurisdiction and win the battle against poverty. In the new era, Sinopec has focused on rural revitalization's overall requirements of "prosperous industry, ecological livability, rural lifestyle, effective governance, and sufficient resources"; focused on the improvement in industry, education and consumption; explored and created an assistance model of "promoting industry with sales; boosting revitalization with industry; driving development with education"; continued to implement the "one county, one industrial chain" assistance mode; sought to run the local schools well; and provided consumption assistance to fully implement the rural revitalization.

Creating "one county, one industrial chain" industries

Based on the resource endowments of the eight counties, Sinopec implemented differentiated assistance, applied the "one county, one industrial chain" method, and defined industrial directions for them, such as, quinoa in Dongxiang county; "Sunshine Bazaar" gray jujubes in Yuepuhu county; tea in Yuexi county; roast duck-eggs in Yingshang county; hard-bone pigs in Luxi county; kiwifruit in Fenghuang county; yak meat products in Bangor county; and agricultural and livestock products in Zeku County. With Dongxiang's quinoa and Yuexi's Cuilan Tea as the demonstration projects, Sinopec strengthened the implementation to fuel local economic development.

Run local schools well to benefit the people

Sinopec coordinated internal and external resources to run local schools well, participated in the construction of a high-quality education system, and created good education opportunities for local children. It held a group-wide education promotion meeting to undertake key tasks, and issued documents such as the Implementation Plan for Sinopec's Education Assistance Project and the Guiding Opinions on Paired Education Support for Sinopec's Direct Subsidiaries in consideration of the requirements of rural revitalization policies. Sinopec gave assistance priority to 37 of the 246 schools which were built with donations and were operated normally. With "overall planning, systematic promotion and comprehensive efforts", Sinopec mobilizeds 37 directly affiliated enterprises to pair up with 37 schools and offer "one-on-one" assistance in campus construction, faculty training, and student development, exploring a "comprehensive, group-wide, and paired cooperation" education support model.

In 2022, in response to the "urgent" needs of teachers and students, Sinopec implemented facility transformation, renovated the canteens for teachers and students, and repaired teaching buildings, playgrounds and dormitories. It also promoted the deep integration of information technology with education and teaching, expanded the coverage of "cloud classroom", and enabled the "sister schools" in the east and west to take the same class remotely. The teaching quality of Gansu Dongxiang County Sinopec Middle School, which is a key project, was widely recognized. Sinopec donated 130,000 books, benefiting more than 20,000 teachers and students; and dispatched a total of 245 teaching volunteers to local schools, with a total of 1,196 days of stay in the schools. About 77% students of the "Spring Bud" class in Zeku county, Qinghai province, qualified the Grade A college entrance examination. And Sinopec organized the training for more than 2,000 teachers, and set up more than 170 pairs of Lanqing Mentor-apprentice Group. Sinopec's employees offered hand-in-hand pair assistance and helped more than 1,500 students.

Efficiently boosting consumption assistance

Relying on the good foundation of industrial development and consumption assistance during the poverty alleviation period, Sinopec further strengthened strategic planning, interaction of production and marketing, and systematic improvement; optimized the business path of "production, supply and marketing"; reinforced the "one county, one industrial chain" model to give full play to its advantages in channels, marketing and influence; and formed an "industry + consumption" characteristic assistance model of "driving consumption assistance with product quality, industrial assistance with consumption assistance, and rural revitalization with industrial assistance".

Sinopec used its platforms such as ejoy365.com, epec.com and sinopectg.com to increase the promotion and sales of characteristic products from the poverty-hit area it supports. And, currently 1,710 products from 146 counties of 23 provinces and autonomous regions are included in the Sinopec Consumption Assistance Project Commodity Catalog. Sinopec released key assistance products and promotion activities on Marching Sinopec applet, Sinopec Monthly magazine, and sinopecnews.com.cn; organized activities of "group buying to rejuvenate agriculture" in its headquarters, oil fields, refineries and chemical enterprises; and participated in activities such as the "Week of Central Enterprises' Consumption Support for Rural Rejuvenation" and "Spring Festival Special" organized by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to smooth the rural produce sales channels. In 2022, Sinopec's consumption assistance amount exceeded 1.156 billion yuan, showcasing the responsibility of a central enterprise.

In September 2022, Sinopec held a special agricultural products exhibition in Yingshang county, Anhui province

In July 2022, the Fresh Food Map, a national fresh food sales website built by Sinopec's ejoy365.com, was officially launched in Guangxi. And 60,000 kg mangoes produced in Base was sold on ejoy365.com in the month