Across China: New brooms sweep Xinjiang village clean of ingrained poverty

Dirt was everywhere. When Uroziali Harsiharbayi first came to Uzunerik Village in southern Xinjiang in early 2018, his shoes were almost buried in dirt when stepping onto the main street.

Uzunerik Village is located in Hotan Prefecture's Karakax County, an impoverished county with the largest number of poor residents in Xinjiang. Local people had limited ways to make a living as arable land and other natural resources are scarce. Over 60 percent of the 1,900 villagers lived below the country's poverty line in early 2018.

Uroziali Harsiharbayi was assigned from Urumqi, the regional capital, to lead the village out of poverty in 2018.

"The resources here can't support large-scale development of agriculture or livestock breeding. We had to start from scratch and blaze a new trail," he said.

The only resources left seemed to be human resources, as few of the villagers had stable jobs. He therefore decided to start up small businesses to keep them employed.

After conducting surveys of local grocery stores, Uroziali Harsiharbayi found business opportunities in brooms. "Hotan is close to the world's second-largest shifting desert, the Taklimakan Desert, making sweeping a necessity for local people. Good brooms are in huge demand," he said.

Uroziali Harsiharbayi and some villagers set up a small workshop and pooled money to buy sorghum stalks and other materials to make brooms. But the group's first batch of products was met with a cold reception due to their poor design and function.

"It was a huge blow to us. We were ready to give up the business and turn the brooms into feed for cattle," said Memtimin Akh, head of the broom plant.

Pressured but not daunted, Uroziali Harsiharbayi insisted on sticking to the broom business. "It's not only a matter of money, but also morale."

He then consulted broom factories in other parts of China, upgraded broom-making machines, and visited grocery stores in the prefecture to promote their new products.

Their perseverance paid off. The brooms became a hot seller in Hotan Bazaar, with over 1,000 brooms sold in their debut for 20,000 yuan (about 2,858 U.S. dollars). "The villagers jumped to their feet at the news. They finally saw a path to making more money," Memtimin Akh said.

Now a large broom plant covering over 1,000 square meters has been erected, offering jobs for nearly 100 residents. The annual sales revenue of the factory has exceeded 5 million yuan.

Mireximu Nizamidin, 56, is a worker at the broom plant. He and his wife used to make straw mats for a living, and could only earn 70 yuan after a day's toil. Now he can earn more than double that figure, bringing home five yuan for each of the 30 brooms he makes every day.

After about a year's work at the broom plant, Mireximu Nizamidin's family shook off poverty in 2019. "We bought our first refrigerator and washing machine last year," he said.

Entrepreneurship has spread beyond the broom plant. Encouraged by the broom business's success, many villagers have joined the start-up campaign. Now 16 small plants have been set up in the village, making an array of products ranging from flour to toilet paper and rat traps.

The plants have created stable jobs for local villagers and helped reduce the village's poverty rate to about 20 percent.

Uroziali Harsiharbayi put on an exhibition of the village's micro industries in early July to encourage local villagers to explore new markets.

"Entrepreneurship will help them sharpen their competitive edge and stand on their own feet," Uroziali Harsiharbayi said.