The eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province released a public service advertisement promoting poverty alleviation through the consumption of products and services from poor areas.

The city also appointed A-list actor Huang Xiaoming and Chen Meng, a table tennis player, both Qingdao natives, as spokespeople for the poverty alleviation program.

Qingdao has launched a number of measures to help boost the sales of agricultural products from western regions. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Since the mid-1990s, cooperation between China's more developed eastern regions and less developed western regions has been a key means of alleviating poverty and bridging the gap between the two regions.

Qingdao has been assigned to help Anshun city in Southwest China's Guizhou province and Longnan city in Northwest China's Gansu province.

Qingdao has implemented long-term measures to help the two cities, not only financially, but also in education, culture, health, science and technology.

Chen Meng, a table tennis player, is appointed by Qingdao as a spokesperson for the poverty alleviation program. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This year, as farm product sales have taken a serious hit amid the coronavirus pandemic, Qingdao has launched a series of measures to help boost sales in the two cities.

The city encourages local companies, institutions and communities to purchase products from Anshun and Longnan.

In addition, Qingdao also hosted online sales activities to assist in poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.

Official data showed that in the first half of this year, Qingdao has directly purchased or helped sell 467 million yuan ($67.88 million) worth of products from Guizhou and Gansu. About 25,885 farmers have found employment or increased their income.

Qingdao will make more efforts to aid western regions and help alleviate poverty in the future, local officials said.