For decades, 48-year-old Ye Peng had resided in a remotely-located and poverty-stricken village in Caiguan Town in Guizhou Province.

Deep in the mountains, in Guankou village, he led a simple life, supported by corn planting. Life, already hard enough, took a downward turn about a decade ago when his wife fell seriously ill. With medical bills to foot and two school-aged children to support, the family plunged in dire poverty.

Nonetheless, a turnaround in his fortune took place this year. In April, he and his family moved into a newly furnished apartment in Caiguan Town, at no cost, under a poverty alleviation relocation program, Ye told Beijing Review. In addition to a new home, Ye was also offered a job as a security guard in the town, earning 1,500 yuan ($227.9) per month, he said.

Speaking of his new life, Ye said "Life is convenient. Shops and a drug store are right across street." The neighborhood for resettled residents boasts a number of modern amenities. A children's recreational ground with colorful images of the monkey king and dragons is located at the end of the street. A spacious and well-furnished afterschool care center offers impoverished children free services and seniors can entertain themselves at a seniors' activity center next door to the afterschool care center.

Settled down

Guizhou is a mountainous province whose hilly land accounts for more than 92 percent of its total area. Many impoverished people in the province live in areas with inhospitable natural conditions.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), Guizhou plans to relocate more than 1.6 million people or nearly one third of all impoverished people in the province out of areas where the environment can no longer support them. In 2016, 458,000 people were already relocated, according to the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Guizhou Province.

The relocation is voluntary, said Xu Min, an official with Guizhou provincial immigration bureau. Foldouts have been distributed to farmers to inform them of relevant supportive government policies.

The government's subsidies differentiate according to the conditions of individual cases. Each person in a relocated impoverished household with income below the poverty line can receive a relocation subsidy of 20,000 yuan ($3,039.5), while each person in households above the poverty line can receive 12,000 yuan ($1,823). In addition, those who have signed a relocation and housing demolition agreement for their land to be reclaimed for farming will receive a reward of 15,000 yuan ($2,279.6). Relocated residents can lease their farmland out. The government will provide free housing for extremely poor households, while the property rights of such homes are still held by the government.

Xu Caicai, a 20-year-old girl and her younger brother Xu Yajun have been offered free housing in the resettlement neighborhood in Caiguan Town. Xu just graduated from a vocational school and is still looking for a job. The younger brother is still in school. Xu's father is disabled, and her mother works in an aluminum factory in Shanghai. Financial commitments such as school tuition costs strained the family's finance.

They moved into the new apartment in this March, and their mother plans to join them later this year to find work at a factory on the ground floor of their apartment building. Previously, they could only meet their mother once a year.

Working close to home

The ground floor of the resettlement buildings in Xu's neighborhood houses a police station, a drug store, shops and factories. Some resettled residents work right under their apartments.

Forty-four-year-old Xu Daijun is employed at a glove-making factory just a stone-throw away from her home, making 2,000 yuan ($394) per month. Her husband, disabled by an injury while working in a coal mine, stays at home. Her young children attend a primary school and kindergarten nearby. She used to live in the vicinity of a coal mine and when the mine was hallowed out, the ground was fractured and unsafe to live on, so they moved to Caiguan Town half a year ago.

"The resettlement areas are reasonably chosen so that relocated impoverished people can find jobs and get out of poverty," Xu Min said. Relevant organizations learned of the employment needs of residents and the education needs of their children before the relocation so as to plan the resettlement areas accordingly.

Resettlement areas are usually built close to cities, industrial parks and scenic areas, according to the Poverty Alleviation and Development Office of Guizhou Province. The Qianhuyizhai resettlement area in Shuicheng County in Liupanshui has been designed with employment creation in mind. The resettlement area is located in the picturesque Yeyuhai scenic area.

"The area is designed to accommodate 4,123 impoverished persons in 1,006 households," said Yi Na, a tour guide dressed in traditional attire of the Yi ethnic group. As Guizhou seeks to ensure that at least one individual in a poor household gain employment, 1,150 persons will be provided jobs in the scenic area, with an average monthly salary of more than 2,000 yuan ($304), Xu Min said.

The houses are designed and built to serve both as residences and tourist facilities. They feature a blend of modern architectural style and traditional Yi ethnic architectural elements such as adobe walls, thatched roofs and totems. Revenues generated from the houses are split between their constructors, property management and households according to the share of their investment.

Zhao Yinxi, a middle-aged man, is also satisfied with his new life. Currently, he works as a security guard, while his wife as a cleaner. The total annual income has more than tripled what they previously earned by cultivating corn in the mountains. His home, built at the foot of a hill, overlooks a lake, with a large stretch of refreshingly green meadow on its banks. Black goats are grazing on the meadow and children merrily run around.

Poverty alleviation through relocation is being carried out not only in Guizhou, but also across the country. Premier Li Keqiang stressed the importance of this program at a conference held on this topic on September 16-17 in Sichuan Province's Dazhou City. He said that the program is important for promoting supply-side structural reform, shoring up weak links in poverty-stricken areas and winning the battle against poverty.

He affirmed the achievements that various localities have made in this regard. He pointed out that reasonable arrangements should be made for the scale and progress of relocation projects; project quality should be ensured and project fund management should be standardized. He said efforts should be made in expanding production, creating jobs and increasing income so that every relocated household can get out of poverty.

Copyedited by Nicole Bonnah

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