Speech by Chairman Wang Jianlin at the opening ceremony of Danzhai Wanda Village and Wanda Vocational College

Honorable Party Secretary Chen Min’er, Auditor General Hu Zejun, Provincial Governor Sun Zhigang, and Deputy Minister of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development Ou Qingping：

Distinguished leaders and dear guests:

As the saying goes, love knows no boundaries. Today we are getting together in Danzhai thanks to the lofty cause of poverty alleviation. On behalf of Wanda Group, I would like to express my heartfelt welcome to all of you. I also want to extend my warm congratulations on the opening of the Danzhai Wanda Village and Wanda Vocational College.

Since the 18th Party Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping has made a series of crucial instructions on the direction of poverty alleviation in China. To respond to the mobilization of the CPC Central Committee, Wanda Group has taken the responsibility for the poverty alleviation of Danzhai altogether as the sole business involved and successfully explored a new model of targeted poverty reduction.

Danzhai is the matching recipient for the effort of poverty alleviation by the National Audit Office and Wanda Group. With the recommendation of the then Auditor General Liu Jiayi, we decided to focus on the development of tourism and education in Danzhai. Today, Auditor General Hu Zejun is also present at this event and this once again demonstrates the commitment of NAO to Danzhai’s development. National State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development has also given special care to Danzhai and has been with us throughout the process from the preliminary fact-finding mission, to the identification of the recipient matching country and work direction, and to the later project implementation. Minister Liu Yongfu himself paid quite a number of visits to Danzhai. 

Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, Provincial People’s Government, Qian-dong-nan Prefecture Party Committee and Government, Danzhai County Party Committee and Government also gave high priority to our work in Danzhai. Party Secretary Chen Min’er and Governor Sun Zhiguang have made many inquiries into and comments on our work progress in Danzhai and tremendously facilitated the project progress. I also want to thank all the construction entities, the participating businesses and the Wanda team situated in Danzhai for their hard work. Therefore it is fair to say that the poverty alleviation here is not being driven by Wanda alone, but by all of us together!

Wanda’s “one enterprise responsible for an entire county’s poverty alleviation” model represents a significant innovation of China’s poverty alleviation. The Program involves a total investment of RMB 1.5 billion, comprised of Wanda Vocational College, Wanda Village and Danzhai Special Poverty Alleviation Fund to meet the long-term, medium-term and short-term local demands. Due to the Program’s deployment of the market industries and its well-targeted approach, it was therefore awarded the first National Poverty Alleviation Innovation Award in 2016.

The long-term part of the program is the Guizhou Wanda Vocational College. The College is designed to improve Danzhai people’s skills and competence through education, and eliminate poverty from the source. The successful operation of the Village will generate 2,000 direct job opportunities. According to China Tourism Academy’s estimates, more than 10,000 indirect jobs will be created. Meanwhile, Danzhai Special Poverty Alleviation Fund has achieved effects in the very first year of implementation and guaranteed the poverty reduction for nearly 20,000 people in extreme poverty. Before Spring Festival this year, the returns of the first installment of RMB 50 million in the Fund were granted in Danzhai and ensured the average income of the impoverished people was higher than the national poverty line. I believe with the three projects moving forward together, we will bring about the fundamental changes to the landscape of Danzhai.

Danzhai Wanda Village and Wanda Vocational College are open today but it does not mean the final poverty-alleviation goal has been achieved. It is crucial to maintain a stable operation of the Wanda Village particularly. According to the prior agreement, Wanda shall operate the Danzhai Wanda Village for the first three years and after the operation is comfortably on track, Wanda will transfer the operation right to Danzhai County. Now in line with the requirements from the Danzhai Party Committee and Government, I want to make my stance clear: if Danzhai needs us, then Wanda will continue the operation beyond three years. In addition, the returns of the Poverty Alleviation Fund will be extended to ten years to Danzhai’s poorest population. With regard to other subsequent investments, we will decide after running the Village for a certain amount of time.

Poverty alleviation is a long term and arduous task. Therefore it requires us to continue the hard work for a long time. The launch ceremony today starts a new journey for Wanda. We will give full play to our industrial strengths to build the Village into a famous tourist destination in Guizhou and the country, and develop the Vocational College into an outstanding school in the province. Wanda will not only lift Danzhai from poverty but will also bring prosperity to the county.

Thank you all!