Many ways to tackle poverty

• Source: Global Times
• [01:34 July 20 2010]
• Comments

Two children stand in front of their home in Huize county, Yunnan Province. The county is one of the poorest in the province.

By An Baijie in Kunming

Deputy prime minister Sok An of Cambodia said the most impressive place he visited during his week-long trip in China was the Dinosaur Valley, a remote museum in Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

The Dinosaur Valley, which is located in Lufeng county, has attracted about 1 million tourists from across China since it is opened in April 2009. It was designated as a major project to boost the local tourism and alleviate poverty.

The income from ticket sales was 46 million yuan ($6.8 million) in the first half of 2010 and that helped raise the financial revenue of the local government by 17.2 percent. The average farm-ers' income also increased by 12 percent, according to the official report published last Friday on the government's website.

Sok An was among 130 political leaders from 28 countries from Asia and the Asia Pacific region who were invited by the Communist Party of China (CPC) to visit remote rural areas in Yunnan during the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) between July 13-20.

About 5.4 million people in Yunnan's countryside were still living in poverty as of 2009, accounting for about 14 percent of the nation's total population living in poverty, which is second highest nationwide.

During the two-day tour of rural areas in Chuxiong and Honghe Yi Autonomous pre-fectures, the political leaders and representatives gained first hand knowledge about the "model villages" that were lifted out of poverty due to tourism, solar energy, and protection of minority ethnic culture.

Pupils have lunch at a primary school located in a poor mountainous village in the outskirts of Kunming, Yunnan Province. Photos: CFP

A good start

Political leaders and representatives visited the World Dinosaur Valley on Thursday, the site of dinosaur fossils and also an archeology museum established in 2008 in Lufeng county, Chuxiong, which is about 83 kilometers from Kunming.

Cahit Bagci of the National Assembly of Turkey told the Global Times that the dinosaur park is a good way to attract tourism.