The village of Songmiao is now one of the renowned rural tourism destinations in Lingchuan county. [Photo by Wang Jianjun for China Daily]

After Shanxi announced its elimination of absolute poverty in 2021, officials and residents in the vast rural areas in the province have used multiple measures to consolidate their poverty-relief achievements and boost rural revitalization over the past years.

One example is Songmiao village in the county of Lingchuan, which is using a companies-plus-households operational model to drive its rural tourism business and help residents increase income.

When recalling the lives of locals six years ago, Su Qiufa, Party secretary of the village, said 78 of its 137 households were on the poverty list in 2016.

"There were neither industries nor business and job opportunities in the village," Su said, "People had to work outside to support their families."

The change took place in 2020, with the establishment of a rural tourism industrial chain that includes rural sightseeing, recreation, catering and accommodation with investment from an agricultural investment company in the county.

A range of tourism facilities, including lodges, paths for cycling and walking and roads to connect the village and its neighboring areas, were completed in August 2020, marking the beginning of Songmiao's tourism industry.

The industry is operated by a village cooperative, which has all the households as its stakeholders. "That offered a steady stream of revenue to all the families, allowing the village to be delisted from poverty in the same year," Su said.

In addition to the cooperative, the rural official said villagers are also encouraged to start and operate their own tourism-related businesses.

Wang Wenqing, who had been working outside Songmiao for more than two decades, returned to his home village in 2020 and established his own bed-and-breakfast business in the same year, with a low-interest loan from a local bank.

To Wang's delight, he earned a net income of more than 100,000 yuan ($15,830) after only half a year's operation.

The county of Fangshan has adopted a similar approach to helping rural residents get rich. The local cattle farming industry has got a strong boost with agricultural companies teaming up with farmers to expand and modernize operations.

Local companies have set up a number of farming cooperatives in rural Fangshan, offering farmers technical support while purchasing cattle from them.

Gao Jianqiang, a resident in the village of Zhoujiagou, said his family earned more than 200,000 yuan in net income by selling cattle to a local cooperative over the past two decades.

There are multiple solutions offered by various regions in Shanxi for rural revitalization, including the nanny training industry in Lyuliang and day lily farming in Datong, as well as the burgeoning e-commerce operations throughout the province.

Wu Jia contributed to this story.