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Letter From Huayuan
China's rural villages get help to pull themselves out of poverty
Efforts include building roads, promoting rural tourism and seed technology to improve yields
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For years, Ms Shi Ba San struggled to make ends meet as a farmer until a visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping to her home in Shibadong village on Nov 3, 2013, turned her into a success story of China's rural development.
"In the past, it would have been a good year if we made enough to get by," Ms Shi, 73, told The Straits Times at her home in southern China's Hunan province on Aug 4.
