Businessman ends architectural career to devote himself to poverty alleviation

Whether as village chief or head of a specialized farm cooperative, 68-year-old Tan Decai has devoted himself to helping villagers in Yunnan province overcome poverty.

In 2000, when Ganshan village in Yongshan county started rural reform, a dozen villagers came to his home and asked him to be village chief and help lead them out of poverty.

Tan was in the architecture business and had an annual income of around 40,000 yuan ($4,830 at the time). The annual salary for a village chief was a fraction of that, at only 3,540 yuan.