Suzhou of East China's Jiangsu province raised 1.78 billion yuan ($249.64 million) in 2022 for pairing assistance programs with cities and regions in West China. It included 622.31 million yuan to support the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, 124.67 million yuan for the Tibet autonomous region, 71.74 million yuan for the Hainan Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Qinghai, and 6 million yuan for Yunyang county of Chongqing.

Official data shows Suzhou also allocated 707.61 million yuan to Shaanxi and Qinghai for collaboration and paired assistance between the eastern and western regions, and 250 million yuan to the neighboring city of Suqian.

Suzhou assigned 65 cadres and 287 technical talents to assist in these paired cooperation areas. Efforts are ongoing to help them achieve high-quality development in sectors involved in project construction, livelihood improvement, industrial support and intellectual assistance.

Last year, Suzhou sent five medical experts to a local hospital in Lhundrub county in Tibet, treating more than 500 patients that year.

Ge Jinchao, a doctor from Suzhou who has participated in medical aid to Tibet, assists local patients with ultrasonic examinations.

The teleconsultation equipment in Suzhou and Lhasa can also be installed in township health clinics. The operator can manipulate the robotic arm in real time for consultations to solve difficult and complicated medical cases of patients, Ge said.

"Consultations are scheduled on every Wednesday with Suzhou, and there have been about 50 cases implemented so far," he added.

Next, the medical aid team will cooperate with hospitals in Suzhou to introduce heart-screening examinations to Tibet, Ge said.

The Kelsangthang modern pastoral industry demonstration park in Lhundrub county is a typical example of the projects supported by Suzhou in its assistance to Tibet. In 2017, Jiangsu province invested 150 million yuan to construct the park, which opened in 2019. Built to support the development of the Tibetan yak industry, it is the first comprehensive agricultural and animal husbandry demonstration park in the autonomous region that covers the entire industry chain.

Over the past few years, Kelsangthang modern pastoral industry demonstration park has established an integrated industry chain for crops, cattle, meat and milk while developing a business pattern that coordinates companies, production bases, cooperatives and farmers to promote local employment and income growth.

"By utilizing the scientific feeding method, the park has created a replicable, promotable and scalable model for scientific breeding," said Xiao Jun, deputy Party secretary of Lhundrub county. "This allows local residents to master scientific breeding methods, thereby increasing the profitability of yak breeding."

To help locals better tap into the market of agricultural and animal husbandry products, Suzhou has gone the extra mile to support the construction of a comprehensive testing center in Lhundrub.

"This project is an exploration and innovation of Suzhou in its intellectual assistance to Tibet," said Li Xu, deputy head of the agricultural and rural affairs bureau of Lhundrub. "The project has received support from Suzhou's testing institutions as well as planning and design teams in terms of planning, design, feasibility studies and special reviews."

When completed, the center is expected to be the first State-owned comprehensive testing center in Tibet that integrates agricultural products, food, environment and industrial product testing.

Such support is just a microcosm of Suzhou's assistance in the development of Tibet.

According to official data, Suzhou has so far confirmed 12 paired projects with Tibet in 2023, incorporating five new ones and seven renewals.

Suzhou's paired assistance support has also provided an economic boost for Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

In 2017, Taicang, a county-level city of Suzhou, established a partnership with Zhouzhi county in Shaanxi for further collaboration and assistance between eastern and western regions. Suzhou has since leveraged its edge in business operations to boost Zhouzhi' s iconic kiwifruit — Chinese gooseberry — industry.

To help to overcome sales difficulties for Zhouzhi kiwifruit, Taicang has assisted its counterpart in building three refrigerated warehouses in Jiangsu's Taizhou and Suzhou and has developed a platform for relevant businesses to agree on order-based contracts with kiwifruit farmers for unified procurement.

"The purchase price is only slightly higher than the market price and includes dividends for impoverished households," said Zhang Genglun, director of Zhouzhi's integrated development center for the kiwifruit industry.

Since 2017, Taicang and Zhouzhi have maintained practical cooperation in terms of supporting local industrial development.

For example, Taicang has so far invested 27.75 million yuan in supporting Zhouzhi's agricultural infrastructure, including a high-quality seedlings sales hall and a digital demonstration farm base. Also, a standardized planting base, a cold chain logistics industrial center and an integrated development demonstration park all for the county's kiwifruit industry.

"With more processing businesses and the refrigerated warehouses, I no longer need to worry about the sales market," said Ma Laiwa, a villager in Donghong of Zhouzhi. "By growing kiwifruit and working in the company, our family earned more than 60,000 yuan last year."

In response to the rapid development of e-commerce, Taicang has also helped Zhouzhi conduct e-commerce orientation for locals. In 2022, three training sessions helped 1,091 individuals from rural areas find employment. To date Zhouzhi has developed more than 360 e-commerce enterprises and more than 10,000 microbusinesses. According to county officials, e-commerce service stations have been built in all 20 townships, and e-commerce service points have been established in its 150 villages.

Suzhou's paired assistance and collaboration work underlines its pioneering role in the country, and efforts are ongoing to optimize cooperation between institutions in establishing more paired assistance brands, local officials said.

Wang Linghan contributed to this story.

By YUAN SHENGGAO