Yiyuan county in Zibo, Shandong province has been encouraging local entrepreneurs to open labor-intensive workshops in villages to provide rural residents with jobs and increase their incomes.

As a result, more than 900 workshops focusing on poverty alleviation have been set up in Yiyuan, creating 17,000 jobs for low-income families and villagers. 

Work in these poverty alleviation workshops is unskilled and work hours are flexible.

Villagers work on a production line for insoles in Buxia village in Yiyuan county, Shandong province on March 10. [Photo by Zhao Dongshan/Xinhua]

Villagers make baskets at a poverty alleviation workshop in Dahongyu village in Yiyuan county, Shandong province on March 10. Traditional handicrafts and tourist souvenirs are among the best-selling products produced by the workshops. [Photo by Zhao Dongshan/Xinhua]

Villagers pack and process towels at a workshop in Jiajiazhuang village in Yiyuan county, Shandong province on March 10. [Photo by Zhao Dongshan/Xinhua]

Villagers work on a plastic-braided wiredrawing production line in Yanya village in Yiyuan county, Shandong province on March 10. [Photo by Zhao Dongshan/Xinhua]

A villager arranges insoles at a workshop in Buxia village, Yiyuan county, Shandong province on March 10. [Photo by Zhao Dongshan/Xinhua]