Assisted relocation helps villagers improve livelihoods(2)

Some of the homeowners have started businesses such as grocery stores, restaurants and wood processing mills. A few rent out their houses and receive 3,000 to 4,000 yuan a year.

Some, as in Xiang's family, have been migrant workers in other cities, leaving elderly parents and small children at home.

"Many were skeptical in the beginning about moving. Some hesitated because of the need to seek bank loans. Now a lot of them regret they did not make the decision to move," Xiang said, estimating his new house is now worth 100,000 yuan.

Some are simply too poor to afford a new house. They can rent farming land left by those who have moved and increase their income by tilling more land.

"The plan is not to move everyone out of the mountainous villages and all live an urban life. It is up to individual families to decide whether they want government subsidies and to live in a better house, or to continue to make a living by growing on more land," said Zhou Hailan, deputy chief in charge of a similar relocation project in Yuping Dong autonomous county, Tongren city.

Construction of new houses began in September in Yuping. Zhou said 330 households are expected to move by the end of this year.

For families that have signed up with government authorities to move, each family member receives 12,000 yuan in subsidies. A family still needs bank loans to buy a new house of 80 to 120 square meters.

Job opportunities

Two industrial parks are under construction in the meantime. One park intends to attract high-tech and environment-friendly companies. The other park includes labor-intensive factories that make garments, shoes and chemicals. One shoe manufacturer that has already started production can create 20,000 jobs, Zhou said.

These companies will give priority to hiring villagers who have moved under the relocation project, Zhou said.

Credible agricultural companies will be allowed to rent idled land from villages. For those who choose to stay, they can do the same or work for these large companies, Zhou said.

The Yuping government is trying to raise residents' living standards and help them urbanize through industrialization, Zhou said.

According to Zhou, few ethnic traditions in the Dong autonomous county have the potential to commercialize.

The county is famous for a bamboo flute made of bamboos that grow in the area. Although there is a factory that makes the instrument in Yuping, the skills are passed down within the family and kept secret from outsiders.

Officials overseeing the construction process know they will be held accountable if quality problems are found. They face daily scrutiny from villagers, who are very concerned about their future homes, Zhou said.

Poor construction quality was blamed when a secondary school building collapsed early this month in Kaili, Guizhou province, causing seven injured students to be hospitalized. People questioned why the concrete floor was so fragile and later found the floor contained not a single reinforcing steel bar, according to reports.

Zhou, the official in charge of the villagers' relocation project in Yuping county, Tongren, said he and his colleagues had been informed of the incident and warned to avoid the same thing from happening again under their watch.