Qinghe, once an impoverished county in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, shook off the shackles of poverty in October 2017, after 15 years of dedicated efforts since it was recognized as a poverty-stricken county in 2002. This achievement was made possible with the help of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a large state-owned enterprise.

In 2003, CNPC began to help Qinghe's anti-poverty efforts and implemented targeted poverty relief measures based on Qinghe's regional bottlenecks and advantages.

Qinghe is an uneven mountainous area, and had long tackled the inefficient utilization of cultivated land and water resources. In 2005, CNPC began to invest in the construction of water conservancy projects, electric irrigation stations, canal renovation projects, and efficient water-saving irrigation projects in eight villages of the county. These initiatives eventually resolved local irrigation challenges.

The adoption of drip irrigation technology also helped eradicate persistent drought. The improved land condition subsequently increased cultivatable planting areas, so that villagers could develop large-scale farming. Likewise, the varieties of crops planted have expanded from only wheat to cash crops that include sunflowers and Dagua, a kind of watermelon grown mainly for its edible seeds.

In addition, the integrated water and fertilizer technology ensured that water and nutrients required can be transferred timeously to the crops. Over the past six years, each household has earned an additional income of more than 57,000 RMB when compared with the past.

CNPC also helps villagers exhibit their featured agricultural products at commodity fairs and convenience stores located within gas stations, which enlarges the reputation of these products and gets them accepted in markets nationwide.

The livestock industry, another feature of the county, has traditionally depended on external resources for its feed supply. In 2022, CNPC invested six million RMB to support building a local feed factory, putting an end to the long-standing reliance on external feed resources for sheep and cattle. The first phase of the factory has achieved an annual output of 60,000 tons of concentrate feeds. This not only promotes the sustainable development of the husbandry industry, but also increases additional working opportunities and income for local villagers.