The company has invested in a solar power facility and its employees are helping local children.

Duan Changming has been working as a street cleaner in a village in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region since 2019. Every year, the 55-year-old, who once lived in poverty, receives a stipend of 7,200 yuan ($1,000) for doing the work.

The money comes from a photovoltaic power station in Sonid Right Banner, a county-level region in the region which was once officially classified as impoverished. The photovoltaic power station was a poverty alleviation project operated by the Banner, but it is currently being upgraded to a rural revitalization program.

The solar power station, covering 20 hectares stands on land provided by 34 villages that were once officially classified as poverty-stricken. Total investment in the station was about 50 million yuan, with about 12 million yuan coming from China National Aviation, a State-owned enterprise that is the parent of Air China, the national carrier.

Construction of the station began in September 2018 and was completed the following December. The electricity it produces is sold to a local electric company, and the profit is distributed among the 34 villages.

As of April, the station had generated profit of 10.12 million yuan, and after the money had been dived, each of the 34 villages set up charitable positions, such as street cleaning jobs, and hired impoverished local residents, who will each receive a stipend, according to Guo Mu, director of the Banner's development and reform commission.

"To ensure the assistance is sustainable, we do not give money or cattle directly to the villagers. For instance, if an idle person were given some cows and sheep, they might chose to sell or eat them, which is not a sustainable way to help villagers have a better life in the long term," Guo said.

"The villagers can decide how to spend the money and the priorities to boost the village's development. For instance, some villages use the money to improve infrastructure and build roads. Wind and solar resources are natural gifts for local people, and as the country is developing the new energy sector, we can better use these resources," he noted, adding that animal husbandry, the main local industry, is risky due to the elements and bad weather.

"It's a business mainly dependent on the climate, but photovoltaic power can generate profits all the time. It is the future."

Duan, the villager, said, "I'm grateful to the preferential policy for offering me a better life."

Duan's village, Dukhum in Saikhantal township, has 12 charitable posts, including street cleaners and garbage truck drivers. Each person receives a stipend of 600 to 1,000 yuan every month, said the village head, Amgalan, who only uses one name.

"Our village began receiving the money gained from the photovoltaic power station in 2019. The income is mainly used to pay stipends for the charitable posts, setting up funds to assist villagers in difficulties and prevent them from slipping back into poverty, developing the village's collective economy, offering subsidies to help villagers who have serious illnesses, and improving the environment," Amgalan said.

Last year, the village allocated a total of 12,000 yuan to four sick villagers. This year, a severe drought has affected the herders' livelihoods, so 38,000 yuan has been allocated to 19 households that have been badly affected.

"The money from the photovoltaic power station is not only improving the collective economy of our village, but also playing an important role in raising herders' incomes, preventing villagers from slipping back into poverty, ensuring people's livelihoods and improving the living environment," Amgalan said.

The photovoltaic power station program is just one of many rural revitalization projects in the banner that are sponsored by China National Aviation.

Breeding stations

Earlier, in 2020, it invested 7 million yuan to build a station to breed Sonid sheep, balance environment protection, conduct research on new technologies and improve the animal's reproduction rate of the sheep by 15 percent.

A large number of professionals have been trained at the farm, boosting the development of regional agriculture and animal husbandry.

In addition to sheep, Sonid Right Banner has a tradition of raising camels, and Air China has invested 8 million yuan to build a Bactrian camel breeding center. At its peak, the center had 400 camels. Last year, it produced 46 metric tons of camel milk.

Buyankheshig, the head of Rashaant village, said the settlement earned about 1 million yuan last year by breeding livestock, including sheep, cows, horses and camels, and more than 200,000 yuan from raising camels.

"The camels is a sensitive animal. For instance, only its keeper can milk it: if a stranger tries to milk it — sorry, no milk today," he said, adding that experienced keepers sometimes sing to the camels to make them happy so they will produce better milk.

It's a profitable business, as a can of camel milk powder weighing about 900 gram sells for more than 900 yuan, three times that of regular milk powder.

Buyankheshig added that breeding camels is more profitable than raising sheep, so more villagers are interested in participating.

Bol, 22, who graduated in veterinary at a vocational school, is learning how to breed camels as his family plans to buy some of the animals and join the business.

Saintsogt, head of Ereennuur, said the profit made from breeding camels is about 13,337 yuan per year, while horses are 8,550 yuan, cows make 7,771 yuan, and sheep come in at 650 to 1,350 yuan.

"We did the math. The income the herders make from breeding one camel is about the same as from breeding seven sheep. So, to make the same profit, herders have to raise more sheep, which means more pressure on the grassland," he said. "It is more environmentally friendly to breed camels than sheep."

Yuan Hui in Hohhot contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn