Grinding poverty in China – is Xi Jinping’s alleviation campaign making any difference?
Families struggling to keep their heads above water in one mountain village say they’ve received some help from the authorities, but it’s their children they’re counting on to improve their lives
In an impoverished mountain village in northern China, “Xiao Zhang” – or Little Zhang – is doing her homework.
There is just one stool to sit on and no table at her family’s run-down home, so the 15-year-old perches on a tree stump on the cold concrete floor, using the stool as a desk.
Little Zhang spends her weekends at home with her family, studying and helping her father to look after her mother and 18-year-old brother, both of whom have mental disabilities and cannot take care of themselves.
During the week she attends a boarding school in the township, with the help of a charity, working towards her goal of getting into university and eventually landing a job in a big city like Beijing.
It’s not just her dream – her father Zhang Liansuo is counting on her to look after the family down the track.
“My only hope is for my daughter to do well at school and go to university,” the 58-year-old said. “Her mother and brother will depend on her when she’s older.”
