---On June 14th 2012, the 24 members
of "Training Workshop on SHP Technology for Developing
Countries" from 17 countries visited Liugongtian
Village in Shengzhou City, Zhejiang Province. The purpose
of this trip is to provide the participants of the workshop
conducted by HRC with the chance to know the development
of China rural economy, especially the role that small
hydropower played.
With the company of Shengzhou Water
Resources Bureau and the committee leadership of local
village, the participants visited Diaojiaowan Small Hydropower
Plant. And after that, they were divided into several
groups to visit the local rural families and had the chance
to talk to them face to face.
Liugongtian Village, locates in Shengxi
mountain area, was the village with poor collective economy.
In order to cast off the label of poverty, the villagers
had strong desire to utilize rich water resources and
build hydropower plant to strengthen collective economy.
In 1994, with the support of local Water Resources Bureau,
one hydropower plant with the capacity of 450kW and the
annual power generation of 1, 200,000 kWh was finally
built. With the establishing of the power plant, the collective
economic of the village had increased a lot, and the welfare
of the villagers had been significantly improved. Since
the hydropower station had been put into operation 10
years ago, the village not only paid the loan back, but
also improved the living condition of the villagers considerably.
For examples, the village invested millions yuan in total
to install tap water, build village roads, prepare medical
care for the villagers. In addition, local students admitted
to the universities and colleges can instantly have stipend
of 2000 yuan. And villagers at the age of 60 and above
are able to have the living allowance of 250-400 yuan
per capita at the end of each year.
The participants were all very interested
in the life of local villagers, and asked a lot of questions,
e.g. the housing condition of local villagers, and their
family members, their incomes, etc. In one house of the
local villager, we saw the Chinese painting and handwriting
of the householder, which was greatly appreciated by the
participants. In return, the householder introduced Chinese
handwriting to all participants, and some of the participants
tried to write with the writing brush. At last, the householder
came up with his own Chinese hand writing works and presented
to the monitor of the training workshop - Mr. Ramesh from
Nepal. The householder not only sent his blessing to our
guests from foreign countries, but also hoped that the
friendship between China and Nepal will last forever.
Many participants expressed that this
activity gave them the opportunity to witness the changes
of the Chinese villagers' living condition with the construction
of small hydropower stations. It was an unforgettable
experience and very impressive.
Combined with the visits of international
participants, the Party Committee, the Trade Union, and
the Communist Youth League of HRC organized the activity
to condole with the heirless elderly, and visited 15 elderly
people along with the international participants. Representatives
from HRC sent rice, cooking oil and other gifts to them
to express the care and concern. The activity has been
warmly welcomed by the local villagers. (2012-07-06)
