Government-run embroidery classes are among the measures being used to raise living standards, as Cui Jia reports from Beijing with Yuan Hui in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Mu Dan is proud that she can now produce all kinds of traditional Mongolian embroidery, much as her mother did. Even better, the 40-year-old farmer in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, is excited that her newly developed skills can lift her family out of poverty.

The banner, a county-level settlement, lies at the north of the grassland in Horqin, and 86 percent of its population hails from the Mongolian ethnic group. Horqin means "archer" in Mongolian.