Empowering rural communities: how a training program improved lives in Shanxi

After finishing the Spring Festival holiday with their families, 85 nursing workers set off on Monday to return to their workplaces in Qingdao, Shandong province, and Beijing. These workers are from Lyuliang, located in the Lyuliang Mountains in Shanxi province. [Photo by Ren Jianyu for chinadaily.com.cn]

After finishing the Spring Festival holiday with their families, 85 nursing workers set off on Monday to return to their workplaces in Qingdao, Shandong province, and Beijing. These workers are from Lyuliang, located in the Lyuliang Mountains in Shanxi province.

Kang Haibing, a 50-year-old worker from Fenyang, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Lyuliang, has cared for patients in Qingdao for five years. His perseverance and patience have won the praise of his patients and their families.

Kang attributes all that he gained to a 2020 nursing training program he participated in, which was organized by the Lyuliang government and designed to improve enrollees' job skills and employability.

"Before that time, I had tried odd jobs in my hometown, but I could only earn around 2,000 yuan per month," he said. "When I got the news of the free training program, I immediately signed up."

After 20 days of study, he passed the exam and chose Qingdao to start his new job.

"Now, the quality of my family life has greatly improved, something I never dared to imagine before," he said. "I hope to bring more of my fellow villagers out of the mountains and help them prosper through hard work."

The training program started in 2015. As of the end of 2023, over 100,000 people have enrolled.

Over 50,000 people have gone on to find employment in 29 cities throughout China, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai.

Long-term cooperation has been established with 428 domestic service companies nationwide, paving the way for a new path of labor export from Lyuliang.

In September 2022, a notice from the State Council commended the experience and practices of the "Lyuliang Mountains nursing workers" in promoting rural revitalization.