Liangjiahe Village in Yanchuan used to be a barren mountain village on the Loess Plateau. In the 1960s to 1970s, villagers could barely feed themselves. During this year's "two sessions," Chinese President Xi Jinping recalled the harsh times of his youth when he worked and lived with villagers in Liangjiahe. Xi said "I was a peasant for six or seven years (1969-1975). I was hungry at the time, and asked local villagers what a happy life was for them and what their goals were." The villagers answered, the primary goal was to have anything edible, even chaff, and no more begging for food. And their ultimate goal, which sounded impossible then, was to have refined grains and meat at any time. Xi asked them if they had any more ambitious wishes. The answer was to carry a "golden shoulder pole" to do farm work in the mountains. Xi said "I think this goal is also being achieved. This 'golden shoulder pole' can be interpreted as agricultural modernization." Now Liangjiahe is no longer what it used to be. With the "golden shoulder pole" on hand, villagers have developed a modern apple industry, living a happy life.
