Xi praises rural Party members for donating tea saplings to poor areas

President Xi Jinping praised Party members in a village in Zhejiang province on Friday for donating tea saplings to poverty-stricken areas.

It's of great significance that those who have already become well-off help those who are still living in poverty, Xi said in response to a letter from 20 farmers from Huangdu in Anji county.

He called on Party members to share the Party's burdens and encourage those who become prosperous first to help latecomers in the battle against poverty.

In April, the farmers, all members of the Communist Party of China, wrote a letter to Xi to report their initiative in donating 15 million tea saplings to help people in poor areas.

"When drinking water, one should never forget those who dug the well. After becoming rich, we have never forgotten the kindness and love of the Party," the farmers said in the letter.

"We were so excited when we received Xi's reply. We hope we can offer a hand to poor villagers in certain areas to plant and cultivate these tea plants, and market the tea they harvest, helping them to realize common prosperity," Sheng Awei, Party secretary of Huangdu, told China Daily.

He said the initiative also has received a warm response from institutions at all levels in Zhejiang and the nation.

Officials of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, together with Sheng and other villagers, visited poor areas to analyze local weather and soil conditions and determine the best places for the saplings.

The office decided that 34 villages in Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces would receive the donated saplings.

Sheng said that Zhejiang Tea Group Co has contacted them several times with offers to purchase all the tea harvested from the saplings.

Sheng estimated that if planted and cultivated in a scientific way, the plants will produce annual income of 60,000 yuan ($9,030) per hectare.

He said that if each family cultivates two-thirds of a hectare of Anji baicha tea, "that would be enough for them to walk out of poverty in a sustainable way". Anji baicha is a green tea variety grown in Anji county.

The first batch of saplings is expected to be sent to their destinations soon.

On April 9, 2003, Xi, then Party secretary of the CPC Zhejiang provincial committee, visited tea plantations in Huangdu to see local farmers' efforts to become prosperous through tea cultivation and green development.

The village has 3,200 hectares of planted tea, which has lifted the previously poor village out of poverty, with per capita annual income topping 36,000 yuan last year.