Lorenzo Pecoraro (center) poses for a picture with students in Gansu Province. Photo: Courtesy of Tianjin University

Children in Gansu Province show off their drawings. Photo: Courtesy of Tianjin University

Undeveloped transportation, communication difficulties, poor education… These issues were once major barriers to improving the economy in the Ninglang Yi Autonomous County in South China's Yunnan Province.

However, with the help of Luo Yincheng, a graduate from Tianjin University, the above problems have gradually been solved, leading to improved standards of living for local residents. 

Similar households living in poverty were also in Northwest China's Shannxi Province, but after the implementation of a year-long free e-commerce training program launched by another graduate from Tianjin University, Zhao Bingzhen, a total of 137 families have began selling products online, leading to an increase of 3.39 million yuan ($486,007) in income. 

In order to achieve the Chinese government's goal of eradicating absolute poverty by the end of 2020, Tianjin University has promoted many programs aimed at aiding those in need and dispatching graduates, such as Luo and Zhao, to remote and poor regions.

Besides graduates, staff at the university, from both home and abroad, have also been doing their part to provide aid to China's poor areas. 

Gang Hao, a 27-year-old teacher, spent a year at Tanchang Dazhai village in Tanchang county in Northwest China's Gansu Province, helping locals establish a noodle factory. By the end of June, the factory had produced over 70,000 kilograms of high quality dried noodles, with sales totaling 360,000 yuan, thereby lifting 86 families, or 349 villagers, out of poverty.

Lorenzo Pecoraro, an Italian professor at Tianjin University, has also volunteered to teach children in poor regions. 

"I travel, at my own expense and using my free time, to reach places where I can organize special events on environmental education, where local children are invited. I believe that for a child, attending even a single event can be an important opportunity to be inspired about the future," Pecoraro told the Global Times, pointing out that education is an important step for achieving anything in life. 

Tianjin University, as a well-known higher education institute, also aims to offer education resources to poor areas.

For example, students from Tianjin University used their scholarships to set up a book fund for an elementary school based in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to help the students read more books.

The university has also donated 200,000 yuan in anti-epidemic materials including face masks, blood oximeters, temperature testing equipment to villages and schools in Tanchang county, Gansu Province. 

The series actions undertaken by Tianjin University have helped China move closer to establishing a moderately prosperous society by the end of 2020. The university is also working on a "500" project aimed at establishing 100 classrooms, 100 practice bases, 100 poverty alleviation industry projects, 100 teacher training courses and 100 projects for stay-at-home children by the end of 2020.


Newspaper headline: Toward the goal