Diverse cultural activities enrich villagers' lives

Working on a greening maintenance team during the day, Pan joins a dozen other villagers in square dancing every evening.

About 20 villagers dance together in the village's cultural square, according to Pan. "We dance two hours every evening, from 7:30 to 9:30," Pan said.

Participating in square dancing makes her happier and her leisure time more enjoyable. "Before I started square dancing, I usually watched TV, did chores or went straight to bed after I finished a day's work," Pan recalled.

For many villagers like Pan, square dancing is both a pastime and a hobby, according to Liu Meizhen, chairman of the women's federation of Luwu and a square dancing enthusiast herself.

"After the music stops at 9:30, we would discuss specific dance moves with each other - some even use our lunch breaks to learn new steps," Liu said.

Square dancing is one of many cultural activities organized by the government of Luwu village.

Since 2017, a series of cultural and educational activities have been established to improve local education, propel cultural development and enrich people's lives in the mountain village with a population of over 800.

Among them, the rural library has benefitted a large number of students and local residents.

Built in 2019, the book house offers villagers physical books in categories including economics, arts, science and children's literature. A self-service machine is also set up to facilitate downloading e-books of a wide variety.

"About 40 books are borrowed from the library every month," according to Zhong Wenting, first Party secretary of Luwu village.

The library is also the classroom for an afterschool tutoring service, which mainly targets first- to third-graders and children from kindergartens in the village.

As school ends at 4:30 in the afternoon, many children attend the tutoring sessions in the library, according to Cao Peng, a publicity official of Xiangshan township, which has jurisdiction over Luwu.

"We have recruited teachers to help children pick out books to read, tutor them in schoolwork and musical instruments, and play games with them," Cao said.

Culture and education have always been the major focus of poverty alleviation efforts in Luwu village. "Although culture and education may not seem to be directly connected with poverty relief, they place a long-lasting influence on poverty alleviation work," Cao said.

"I think building a good cultural and social atmosphere is the key to a region's long-term development," Cao said.