Interest-free loans

The interest-free loan program that assisted Su has also benefited dozens of impoverished villagers, who used the money as motivation to start small businesses.

According to the city government, the Qaidam Rural Commercial Bank had distributed 19 such loans, totaling 825,000 yuan, by the end of last year.

Dai Cunzhong in Delingha's Ankang village has also benefited. In 2004, he traveled from a mountainous region of Haidong, a city in Qinghai about 550 kilometers away, to visit relatives and ultimately settled down in Fukang.

"I was a farmer in my hometown, but I had no land in Fukang," he said.

"So, I started working at a nearby brick factory. My dearest wish at the time was to have enough food and not starve."

The final straw that tipped Dai into poverty came in 2015, when his wife had to have an operation to remove several cysts.

Speaking about the seven impoverished households in the area, Yong Zhong, a poverty alleviation official in Ankang, said three had slipped into poverty because family members fell ill.

"There is not much cultivable land in Delingha, which means there's no sustainable income for people. So the villagers' precarious living conditions can easily be disrupted by a single incident."

In 2017, Dai obtained a loan of 50,000 yuan and rented 0.67 hectares of deserted fields to plant quinoa-a high-value crop he had some experience of growing.

The village committee offered free technical guidance and tutorials on using various types of equipment, and within a year, Dai had earned 20,000 yuan from his quinoa harvests.

In April 2018, he rented a further 6.67 hectares in Dulan, a neighboring county, which he also dedicated to growing quinoa.

His daughter, who has recently graduated from college, said it was reassuring to see that her father no longer sighs or frowns all the time.

"He is now busy managing his quinoa business," she said. "He has often told me that a person should work hard, be open and be brave enough to venture into new areas."