What can a single handmade crochet flower create? In Wanshan District, Tongren City, it has woven a "ledger of happiness" for a relocated family and spun an "economic chain" for a community-based micro-industry.
2026 marks the first year of normalized support efforts, as nationwide follow-up assistance for relocated populations moves from the phase of "settling in" into the deeper waters of "achieving prosperity." With developmental assistance becoming a key focus, how can the skills in people's hands be transformed into livelihoods, and how can their creative outputs connect with the market? A recent visit to Wangjia Community in Wanshan District, Tongren City, provided one answer through the story of Xu Ping, a relocated resident, and her "flower weaving."
What is the value of a handmade crochet flower? For Xu Ping, a resident of Wangjia Community, a resettlement site in Wanshan District, Tongren City, the answer is that it is not only valuable in monetary terms but also represents the confidence of a family and the livelihood of a community.
Entering Xu Ping's small workshop, one is greeted by walls blooming with vibrant crochet flowers. As a crochet hook dances between her fingers, brightly colored blossoms gradually take shape. The inspiration for this micro-industry, nestled within a relocation community, came from the hand-crocheted bouquet seen by the world during the Winter Olympics three years ago.
"Back during the Winter Olympics, I saw that all their bouquets were hand-crocheted, which gave me a huge inspiration! I started researching and making various types at home, until every available spot was filled with flowers," Xu Ping recalled.
Wangjia Community is the largest cross-county relocation and resettlement site in Tongren City, housing 4,029 families and 17,963 people. In 2019, Xu Ping's family moved here from Wengyang Village, Benzhuang Town, Shiqian County. The unfamiliar environment and young children made the family's livelihood a heavy burden on her mind.
She never imagined that a single crochet hook and a few skeins of yarn would later become the lever to move her life forward.
"One day, Secretary He Ying visited our home. She saw all the flowers and suggested I try selling them," Xu Ping said. Initially worried they wouldn't sell, her fears were dispelled when He Ying posted about them on social media, resulting in all the flowers being sold out that very morning, giving Xu Ping immense confidence.
While a social media post helped Xu Ping tap into the market, for He Ying, the Party Secretary of Wangjia Community, assistance goes far beyond that. Among China's over 9.6 million relocated people, individuals like Xu Ping are not uncommon—they possess skills and willingness but often lack visibility and a precise support mechanism. This is precisely the core logic of "developmental assistance": shifting from "providing money and goods" to "empowering people," allowing government resource investment to act as a lever to mobilize internal motivation.
He Ying explained that "blood transfusion-style assistance" relies more on government guarantees, whereas developmental assistance involves government encouragement to tap into people's self-management capabilities and stimulate their own drive for development. The government then provides support through incentive-based subsidies and targeted funding.
The path from discovering a "skilled individual" to nurturing an industry in Wangjia Community has been clear and practical: connecting with skills training, facilitating a 200,000 yuan entrepreneurial guarantee loan, and securing 100,000 yuan in funding for a handicraft training base.
In 2022, Xu Ping's workshop was formally established. Today, it has enabled dozens of stay-at-home mothers and grandmothers to receive stable orders, with over 100 women in the community participating in peak periods. The crochet hook has connected a flexible employment network of community micro-workshops, forming a capillary of the "fingertip economy."
Pointing to a currently popular "flower bouquet blanket," Xu Ping explained it can be worn as a shawl when it's cool or used as a cozy cover at home. "Although our income isn't high, even earning just 20 yuan today makes our family very happy and content to be together," she said.
Xu Ping's case is not an isolated one. Her story reflects a deeper shift in the logic of resource allocation within county-level economies following the commencement of normalized support efforts this year.
This year, a total of 123 million yuan in normalized support funds was allocated to Wanshan District at various levels, with investments becoming more focused and precise—industry and employment are key themes, and anyone "willing to take initiative" can become a target for support.
"The focus is still on supporting employment, enabling people to become self-reliant," said Zhang Xudong, Director of the Wanshan District Immigration Service Center in Tongren City, during an interview. He added that whenever someone willing to work is identified, the government will support them. Currently, a portion of vacant factory space has been reserved at resettlement sites for residents to utilize for industrial development.
To help more relocated residents secure stable employment close to home, Wanshan District has been constructing a follow-up support employment industrial park for relocated populations in phases since 2024, covering five plots. The park's investment attraction has a clear direction: targeting labor-intensive enterprises that can provide a large number of jobs, placing workshops near communities, and connecting incomes directly to households.
Ruan Yuwei, Deputy Director of the Tongren City Wanshan District Investment Promotion Bureau, stated that five enterprises have currently settled in the park, providing over 1,600 jobs, making it convenient for relocated residents to find work near their homes.
With industries established, supporting services must keep pace. Opposite the industrial park, the local government has set up a "Children's Home," staffed by dedicated social workers who provide free academic tutoring and childcare services for the children of working families, allowing them to stay from after school until 8 PM. This seemingly "soft" social infrastructure is a crucial strategy for stabilizing the labor supply and reducing the hidden costs of employment for residents.
Li Yu, a dedicated social worker at the "Children's Home," explained that their activities mainly focus on mental health education and family parenting guidance. Social workers provide academic tutoring free of charge as a purely public service, open not only to the local community but also welcoming children from migrant families.
This year is the first of normalized support. As external assistance transitions from a "campaign" to a "sustained effort," the measure of success is no longer just whether the impoverished population has a safety net, but whether they can truly integrate into the market, participate in development, and share in the benefits.
The practice in Wangjia Community offers one possibility: support funds are no longer simply "distributed per capita" but are precisely channeled to every individual with internal drive and every project capable of driving employment.
"After so many years of support, we are like fledgling birds that have gradually grown wings. We will persist on this path. Because since we first moved here, I have managed to buy a beautiful sofa and complete my set of home appliances. I feel proud of this, as it was earned by my own hands!" Xu Ping said.
From deep mountains to a new town, from an empty resettlement apartment to a sofa bought with her own earnings, Xu Ping has woven not just flowers, but the roots of a family taking hold in a new life. From her small workshop to the community employment industrial park, from a single social media post to precisely allocated support funds, the exploration in Wanshan is weaving a larger network—a network containing industrial resilience, the warmth of policy, and the deeper logic of the transformation of Chinese-style assistance.
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