Chinese people embrace new year with optimism

Students pose for a group photo to celebrate the New Year at an elementary school in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo by Ding Genhou/Xinhua)

Huang Qian feels optimistic about the year 2022, having espied the profound changes that took place in his village within just a few years.

"We fought a great battle," said Huang, Party secretary of Qingle village of Nanning City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, referring to the country's fight against poverty.

China declared in 2021 that it has eliminated absolute poverty in the world's most populous country. The agriculture sector in Huang's village has been infused with new vitality.

Based on innovative land utilization, Qingle witnessed an increase of tangerine planting area from just a few dozen hectares to over 1,333 hectares. The village has also set up a 1,500-square-meter workshop specializing in cloth hanger processing, employing over 30 villagers from nearby areas.

"In 2022, our village plans to expand the fruit industry and build diversified planting demonstration areas of tangerine, dragon fruit and banana," said Huang. "We will also expand tourism."

From farms to factories, people from all walks of life are putting their best efforts into their jobs.

In Taizhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Valogin Technology Co., Ltd. was still operating at full capacity at the end of 2021. More than 200,000 sets of valves are produced here every day and distributed across the world.

In 2021, the company's output increased by 18 percent year on year, with its output value exceeding 1 billion yuan.

"Our company has survived in the epidemic and grown against the downward trend," said Sun Qibin, deputy general manager of the company.

The company has forged strategic partnerships with enterprises in Southeast Asia, Europe, America and Africa, Sun added, noting that it has also reinforced the domestic market with its good reputation and product quality.

The year 2022, however, began on a challenging note for residents of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, as the city has seen a resurgence in COVID-19 cases since December 2021.

Delivery rider Li Peng (1st, L) checks information for a citizen at a nucleic acid sampling site in Beilin District of Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Dec. 30, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

But in the face of adversity, volunteers are committed to helping the residents navigate through these hard times.

A group of volunteers in the city's Xincheng District were seen distributing free food to residents under closed-off management after the megacity, with a population of 13 million, imposed strict anti-epidemic restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.

"We are all actively carrying out our responsibilities," said Wen Zhuling, a volunteer who helped recruit 10 more volunteers.

Since Dec. 29, her team has been riding tricycles loaded with vegetables and meat and distributing them to households.

"The bright-colored coat can cheer residents," Wen said, referring to the purple coat she was donning, with visible optimism that the epidemic will soon be over.