A field of alfalfa cultivated using modern water-saving technology at the foot of Luoshan in Hongsibao Photo: VCG

Where is Hongsibu?

Hongsibu is located in Wuzhong, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, at the foot of Luoshan, and is the largest centralized resettlement area for poverty alleviation relocation in China.

What does "zan jin" mean?

In the Northwest Chinese dialect, it means capable, daring, resilient, and defiant of fate.

In the golden autumn, the "zan jin" women of Hongsibu bustle with activity.

The grape harvest is in full swing, and winemaker Wu Xiuyong tirelessly works toward her "purple dream"; in the poverty alleviation workshop, Xu Haixia's goji berries are packed and shipped nationwide; at the daylily base, Li Zhiqiao leads her sisters in field management, preparing for the next year's cultivation.

Most of them relocated from other parts of Xihaigu, once known as "the most unfit place for human settlement."

In this new era and new homeland, they have bid farewell to more than just poverty.

"The Chinese dream is the dream of the Chinese nation, and also the dream of all women in China."

"On the new journey, every woman is a writer of the times and a striver in pursuit of dreams."

These earnest instructions inspire and motivate.

As poverty alleviation effectively transitions to rural revitalization, the five-year transition period ends this year. Visiting Hongsibu, reporters heard their stories.

Work hard, stand tall

In Hongsibu, the term "zan jin women" was first used to praise Li Yaomei.

Her hometown in Tongxin county is drought-stricken with scant rainfall and meager harvests; after finishing a meal, a layer of sand remains at the bottom of the bowl.

"Revolving around the hearth, the children, and the cattle and sheep" - this was the life of the "three-revolving women," a term for women in Xihaigu at the time.

Ecological migration and poverty alleviation changed their fate. But a serious illness and a car accident left Li with a 300,000-yuan ($42,067) debt.

With timely help from the local poverty alleviation team and the women's federation, Li secured a 50,000-yuan loan and started a family workshop, weaving brooms from jiji grass. Her brooms gained fame, turning jiji grass into "golden stalks."

In the spring of 2019, Li paid off her debts. Villagers gave her a thumbs-up, saying, "This woman is truly 'zan jin!'"

"Head down in toil, you live as a comma; stand tall with a straight spine, you're an exclamation mark!" Li said.

"What's your name? Don't you have your own name?"

Wang Qin, now 52, also hails from Tongxin county. Years ago, when signing a document, she instinctively wrote her husband's name. But this casual question kept her awake all night.

A new village rose from barren land. In 2009, ecological migrants settled in Hongsibu. Selling spicy skewers, working as a gas station attendant, and hauling bricks at construction sites, resolute Wang was determined to "live her own life."

When opportunity knocked, Wang seized it, taking over the ZTO Express station in Hongsibu.

No truck? She pedaled a tricycle. Picking up packages, sorting, delivering, and answering customer calls - she handled it all.

"Sweet days come from bitter ones. Now we've got 9.6-meter and 4.2-meter trucks," she said.

Twelve years later, Hongsibu's dry sands have turned to golden sands. Wang now employs over 20 people, operates more than 30 rural delivery points, and recently acquired a new warehouse for a smart sorting workshop.

Ma Huijuan, another woman seeking a new life, moved from Xihaigu's Heiyanwan village. With food on the table, new worries emerged.

"I didn't want to be a grain of sand lost in the yellow wind," Ma said. An old mobile phone became her "window to the spirit." In the gaps between farm work, she typed with her thumbs on the kang (heated bed).

Migration stories, essays, poems, and novels - over 13 years, she wrote more than 3 million words. Her works got published, and Ma became a writer and a deputy to the National People's Congress.

"When the nation faces great events, women are never absent. I will bring the voices of grassroots women to a bigger stage," Ma said.

The fertile soil of the new era provides a stage for every dreamer, Wang Yanhua, chair of the Hongsibu's women's federation, reflects with emotion.

Three women pick grapes at a grape planting base in Hongsibu, Wuzhong, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Photo: cnsphoto

Good policies lift women up

"My name is Xu Haixia, the 'Xia' means chivalry, like a hero."

Twenty-five years ago, Xu lost her left leg to illness. She was 26 then. With 3,000 yuan in her pocket, she moved to Hongsibu, taught herself hairdressing using instructional CDs, and opened the first salon in the area.

"I didn't want to be a burden. If you don't fight, how can you find a way out?" she said. With excellent skills, her business flourished. Xu went on to establish 11 enterprises, creating jobs for over a hundred people with disabilities and those who had recently escaped poverty.

At the entrepreneurship (e-commerce) incubation park in the Hongsibu district comprehensive service center for persons with disabilities, everyone is busy - packaging, labeling, and answering customer inquiries.

In the "Wan Xia Hong" livestream studio, Wu Xiaolan promotes rose jam made in her factory.

Wu Xiaolan, who has limited mobility, said, "It was Xu who made me believe that people with disabilities can also accomplish things."

The disabled persons' federation of Hongsibu has pioneered new mechanisms, entrusting Xu to fully operate the care center for persons with disabilities - providing day care, rehabilitation, and employment support. For 160 people with severe disabilities, it has become their "second home."

"Those who've been caught in the rain are the ones who know how to hold an umbrella for others," Xu said. "And that big umbrella is our era."

At 5 am, Li Zhiqiao, head of an agricultural cooperative in Hongsibu, bends down to pick the buds of daylilies. "We can harvest over a hundred kilograms today!"

When her husband died unexpectedly in 2016, Li resolved: "I must stand up. My family needs a pillar."

Taiyangshan Township in Hongsibu used to be a barren wasteland, where the wind blew stones across the sand. Then came a huge project to pump Yellow River water into the area. Four pumping stations lift the river water step by step onto the once dry land.

With water flowing in, Li bet everything on growing daylilies. During the first harvest season, she and her sisters began work at 3 am, their fingers stained black by the flower sap.

Today, her cooperative brings in an annual output value of 4 million yuan, helping over 400 households increase their income. Taiyangshan Township is now known as "China's star daylily production area."

"You see these daylilies," Li said, "they're just like the people of Hongsibu - always facing the sun, always in bloom."

When Li's daylilies ripen, Wang Hangdi's goji berries also bore fruit. Coming from the remote hills of Xiji county, Wang left school before completing primary education to work in larger cities. Around 2000, her family moved to Hongsibu.

To develop characteristic industries, Wang set her sights on goji berries. She wanted to plant 50 mu (about 8 acres), but the 70,000 yuan she needed turned out to be far beyond her reach - she only managed to gather 20,000.

As the planting deadline loomed, she squatted by her field in tears. The village committee director reminded her: "The local Agricultural Bank of China branch offers women's entrepreneurship loans, and the government subsidizes the interest!"

With a glimmer of hope, she applied. And within days, 50,000 yuan was deposited into her account.

In March 2018, she registered her family farm and later trademarked "Xuezhonghong" and "Wang Hangdi." During peak seasons, she hires more than 200 workers, and her sales exceeded 6 million yuan in 2024.

"It's not that we're so capable," she said. "It's that we're lucky to live in good times."

The branches are heavy with bright red fruit. Boxes of fresh goji puree are shipped nationwide, and Wang is planning her next move.

Keep moving forward, better life ahead

"Done! Look!"

At the foot of Luoshan, the wind brushes across the fields. Behind Kou Qifang, a herd of Tan sheep stands out prominently.

After being laid off in 2003, Kou came to Hongsibu. With a degree in animal husbandry, she threw herself into raising Tan sheep - a breed of one of Ningxia's "three treasures." But as they were slow-growing and had few lambs, they were neglected by local villagers.

Kou decided to take a new path. She consulted experts across the country and, with government support, collaborating with universities such as Northwest A&F University.

Over more than a decade of exploration and countless experiments followed. "The Tan Sheep with snowflake marbling breed succeeded!" "Multiple lambs per birth succeeded!" Today, China's largest and most comprehensive Tan sheep breeding system is rooted in Ningxia's lands.

In the new era, Hongsibu's once barren lands have become a cradle of innovation and vitality.

As autumn deepens, the vast vineyards at the foot of Luoshan are ready for harvest.

"Back then, not only did no one grow grapes here - many had never even tasted them," said winemaker Wu Xiuyong, now in her 10th year in Hongsibu.

Situated in a golden latitude zone for winemaking, Hongsibu is blessed by nature. But for Wu, settling here carried deeper meaning.

"The Yellow River water is sweet, but limited. By promoting drip irrigation through grape cultivation, we can conserve water effectively."

She began as a quality inspector in a winery, then became a technician, and eventually mastered independent fermentation. Her dedication paid off.

In June 2025, Wu's wine won the top prize at the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Wu still remembers vividly how five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the wine industry has promising prospects as the living standards of Chinese people continue to rise, during an inspection tour in Ningxia, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Unlike many Hongsibu settlers who migrated from Xihaigu, Wu came here from Yinchuan in Ningxia, a "reverse migration."

"Have you ever regretted it?" Wu shook her head. She said she chose to stay because of the ecology.

Yao Yifan, chairman of the people's congress in Liuquan Township, Hongsibu - who has long studied the phenomenon of "zan jin" women - summed it up perfectly. "A good ecology is not the success of an individual, but the growth of a group of people."

During the autumn harvest season, in the wooden tea house of Liu Kairui's family in Hongsibu's Hongde village, people gather to chat and share over a cup of tea. These informal tea gatherings have become a common practice for the "zan jin" women of Hongsibu.

They turn their own light and warmth into beacons that light the way for others. Along this journey, the women of Hongsibu have gained a deeper understanding of what it means to be "zan jin."

Zhao Xiulan, an inheritor of the region-level intangible cultural heritage, embroidery, has lived in Hongsibu for more than 20 years. Through her "workshop + base + farmers" model, she has trained more than 8,000 impoverished women.

Young writer Hu Jing collected 5,000 books, turned her new home into a village library, which has become a "spiritual fueling station" for the women in the village.

There are also more recent stories.

Liang Qiaohong, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) branch of Nanyuan village, once known as the "little girl" by the villagers, has grown into the "head" of the entire village. The village's average annual income per person has surged from less than 1,800 yuan to over 13,900 yuan.

Lei Jinxia from the People's Hospital in Hongsibu was one of the first employees when the hospital was founded 20 years ago, witnessing the annual outpatient visits grow from 24,000 to more than 250,000 today.

Individual "zan jin" is to stand firm, but the collective "progress" of the community leads to a flourishing of all.

In June 2020, Xi visited Hongsibu's Hongde village. Xi expressed his hope that the villagers could keep going and create better lives for themselves, reported Xinhua.

Today, Hongsibu has 235,000 immigrants who have worked hard to build a better life. The per capita disposable income in rural areas has increased from 500 yuan before resettlement to 15,258 yuan. Today, nearly 90 percent of the residents who have received national and provincial honors in Hongsibu are women.

Recently, a series of public lectures have been organized, spreading the stories of the "zan jin" women across Ningxia.

The article was originally published on the People's Daily on October 13.

In Ningxia's Hongsibu, 'zan jin' women - capable, daring, resilient, and unyielding - craft inspiring stories of triumph, weaving dreams into reality