In 2016, Huang Wenxiu, who was studying at Beijing Normal University, was about to graduate. When most of her classmates were busy with job hunting, she said that "Many people don't want to go back after they leave the countryside, but there are always people who have to return, and I'm the one who wants to do so."

Huang Wenxiu visits an apiary in a village in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to introduce bee raising to the low-income village of Baini. (Photo: Xinhua)

After her graduation, Huang returned to her hometown – Baise, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, applying to be the first Party secretary responsible for poverty relief in the mountainous poverty-stricken village. There, she led 418 people to fight against poverty. Huang was traveling in a mountainous area on her way back to Leye county on the night of June 16, 2019. Early the next day, she was found dead in her car after it was washed into a valley by a flash flood. She was only 30. 

Huang's story is shared by President Xi Jinping on different occasions: 

In a written instruction honoring Huang Wenxiu in July 2019, Xi grieved for Huang and extended condolences to her family. 

Xi stressed that Huang's brilliant young life depicted how CPC members are staying true to the Party's founding mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He has urged Party officials and youths to learn from Huang's strong sense of mission, responsibility and dedication to poverty reduction.

Xi praised Huang's dedication to poverty alleviation. She was committed to the original aspirations and missions of a communist with her glorious young life, he said, and is an excellent example of an ideal youth.

In his speech at the National Conference to Review the Fight Against Poverty and Commend Outstanding Individuals and Groups on February 25, 2021, Xi said that "Trying times make heroes out of ordinary men and women. Millions of officials have devoted themselves to the battle against poverty and done hard and solid work." Huang Wenxiu, who returned from the city to work in her hometown, lighting a new path for young people in the new era, said Xi. 

(Compiled by Dong Feng)