Workshop to help fuel east-west cooperation

A straw-hat workshop was launched in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Southweat China's Sichuan province, part of efforts Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang has made under a national program known as the "East-West Pairing-off Cooperation for Poverty Reduction".

Under the program, a more developed region in East China helps a less developed one in West China to escape poverty.

Ningbo has been assigned to support 11 counties in Liangshan since 2021, with Changhe town in Cixi, a county-level city in Ningbo, paired with Butuo county in Liangshan.

Changhe town helped to establish the straw-hat workshop in Butuo county, at which artisans from Changhe taught locals how to make straw hats. All the materials are provided by a straw-hat company in Changhe town. In the future, villagers of Butuo will be able to increase their incomes by making hats.

According to an official from Changhe town, they plan to purchase 500,000 to 1 million straw hats from Butuo county each year, and a straw-hat factory will be built in the county.

Liangshan is home to the largest population of Yi people in China. Located in the southwest of Sichuan province, it covers an area of 60,400 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over two cities and 15 counties, of which 10 counties are inhabited by the Yi.