A Driving Force.docVIP

A Driving Force 　　In just a few years， Peizhai in central China’s Henan Province has transformed from an impoverished village into a thriving community. The success can be attributed to a number of factors， a notable one being its competent leader， Pei Chunliang. 　　Pei， born and raised in Peizhai， was a selfmade successful rural entrepreneur in 2005， when he was voted by his fellow villagers to be the village chief. In the following years， he led Peizhai on a development drive by investing his own money in building new homes and promoting tourism and vegetable and flower production. 　　Pei， now Secretary of the Peizhai Community General Branch of the Communist Party of China （CPC）， is one of the 35 million rural CPC members in China. They have helped lift tens of millions of rural Chinese out of poverty in the past few decades and are making a difference in the ongoing campaign to eliminate poverty. 　　Since the late 1970s， some 700 million rural residents across China have shaken off poverty， making China the first developing country to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals’ target of halving the world’s poor population ahead of the 2015 deadline. The current mission is to help the remaining 70 million poor people in China get rid of poverty and enjoy essential social services by 2020. 　　Outstanding CPC officials like Pei are not isolated cases in China’s countryside. The Party’s way of selecting and training officials ensures that they can become a driving force behind the poverty alleviation program. 　　The CPC selects capable officials， regardless of their age and background. Since village Party leaders can play a vital role in the development of villages， they are selected through rigorous procedures from Party members from all walks of life， including rural entrepreneurs like Pei， army veterans， retired government officials and young college graduates. 　　Rural CPC officials attend training sessions provided by county， city and provincial Party commi