Moving Mountains

By Zheng Yang

Livingin a remote mountain village in one of Chinas least developed regions in the northwest， Gao Shiquan was used to hardships. Living in Niangniangba Town， Tianshui City of Gansu Province， and struggling to survive on an annual income of less than 3，000 yuan（$448）， the 50-year-old farmer couldnt imagine things could get any worse - until a landslide buried his adobe home in 2013.

The disaster made other villagers homeless too and thrust them deeper into poverty. And then the silver lining appeared.

This year， the local government of Gansu unveiled a relocation project for the struggling villagers. Gao and other residents were resettled in a nearby village in a block of modern apartments built for them by the government. “I had never thought I could ever own such a pretty apartment，” a thankful Gao said， relaxing in his new living room.

While Gaos story has a happy ending， the challenge for the local government remains. In 2013， one third of Gansus population， or 6.9 million people， were living in poverty. As per the Chinese Governments classification， people with an annual income of less than 2，300 yuan（$344） are deemed to be living below the poverty line while internationally， it is regarded as a daily income of less than $1.25.

So the challenge to uplift the status of Gansus impoverished is a steep and protracted one. However， a variety of measures has seen progress since 2013 with 4 million people lifted out of poverty.

Targeted measures

In China， relocation has been an important measure to alleviate poverty since the 1980s， especially for the geographically disadvantaged regions in northwest China. The mountainous central parts of Gansu， for example， which were regarded unfit for human habituation by visiting UN officials， are plagued by drought and have limited arable land. Besides the economic hardship， the threat of frequent geological disasters hangs over villagers heads.

Since 2012， over 630，000 people in the province were relocated to safer places with better infrastructure. Another 50，000 will be added to the number by 2020.

Across China， altogether 2 million people will be relocated this year. The exodus， among other things， provides an opportunity for the impoverished villagers to move into modern apartments from their shanties.

“Housing is a critical indicator for anti-poverty efforts，”said Bao Xiaowei， head of the Niangniangba Town Peoples Congress， who has been leading anti-poverty initiatives in Gaos village.

Since the Chinese Government put forward the concept of “taking targeted approach to alleviating poverty”in 2014， over 80，000 peoples congress deputies at different levels， together with 400，000 Party members and government officials， have been assigned specific tasks in Gansu.

Yang Zixing， Vice Governor of Gansu， said the first task was to launch an investigation into the impoverished families. The investigators profiled each household， detailing their financial condition and the cause of poverty. Then solutions began to be tailored for each family. For example， families with college students were earmarked for education loans while those with members undergoing medical treatment received extra medical subsidies.

“Without such targeted measures， its hard to ensure that individuals benefit from the governments anti-poverty policies，” Yang said.

The new neighborhood that Gao has moved into has two kinds of apartments. The three-bedroom ones cost 115，000 yuan （$17，000）. Gao paid 65，000 yuan （$9，713） from his savings. The rest came from an interest-free government loan.

Families with less money can choose the one-bedroom apartments， which cost half the price. They have to pay only 10，000 yuan （$1，500）， and the rest comes through a state loan. As for the aged and people without working capabilities， it is free.

In addition to the housing loan， villagers can receive another 50，000 yuan （$7，500） free of interest to explore means of livelihood. “Its good that people can move into a new apartment. But after that they still need to find a way to feed themselves，” Bao said.

According to him， the community will soon have a commercial center with investment from a local enterprise. The project will provide jobs to villagers right from construction， and once the center opens， there will be commercial and maintenance jobs for the entire village.

“We might have to find more workforce from outside，”Bao said.

An invaluable lesson

Xu Dehua had never gone to school in her life.

The 42-year-old comes from a poor rural family in southeast Gansu， and only the youngest of her two siblings got an opportunity to go to school. As the eldest daughter， Xu used to think it was her destiny to be a farmer， and then a farmers wife， spending every day tending to her land and living on a meager income.

But things began to change four years ago when she was told her village would become a tourist resort. Xu received a loan of over 200，000 yuan （$30，000） and became the owner of a hostel. “I had no idea how to do it in the very beginning but I felt like trying， to make a change，”Xu said. “Those who refused to do so now regret it a lot.”

The gross profit of the hostel over the past three months has crossed 200，000 yuan （$30，000） and it provides jobs to impoverished villagers. Thanks to her new income， Xu now sends both her daughters to college to study English and music respectively.

Mountainous Kangxian County in Gansu has been grappling with poverty with its limited arable land. Over 80 percent of the householders live on hills or in deep mountain valleys， where developing either agriculture or industry is difficult.

In 2012， the local government decided to explore a new path of rural tourism， inspired by its location at the junction of three neighboring provinces and the green surroundings.

“We are going to turn green mountains into gold mines，” said Li Tingjun， Secretary of the CPC Kangxian County Committee. According to Li， 75 percent of the 350 villages in the county have adopted the same or a similar mode to develop their tourism or cultural industry. Over 10，000 families have benefited from the development.

Villagers in neighboring Chengxian County are also making their own way. Since 2013， over 900 online shops have been set up on e-commerce platforms and social media to sell local agricultural products. To build logistics channels， the local government has invested in road construction， increasing 4G Internet coverage and personnel training.

Since then， e-commerce in the county has created 4，000 jobs. In poverty-stricken Caotan Village， for example， the poverty rate has been slashed. It was 73 percent in 2011. In 2015， it shrank to 4 percent.

No resting on laurels

Though by the end of last year Gansus poverty-stricken population decreased to 2.89 million - nearly 20 percent less since 2013 - much needs to be done still.

“Honestly， the progress achieved is fragile and unstable，” Yang said. “Childrens education or a serious illness， any one of them could easily draw people back into poverty.”

As a safeguard， a data platform has been established to monitor the progress of the anti-poverty work and the situation of each household. To spur the efforts， while evaluating government officials performance， the provincial government is taking into account the improvement in the lives of poverty-stricken groups instead of the earlier economic indicators.

According to Liu Xiaoshan from the Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development under the State Council， Chinas cabinet， 700 million people have been out of poverty since China started reforms and opening up in the late 1970s， an unprecedented achievement that was applauded by the United Nations in a report last year.

But Liu also admitted that the nation confronts challenges and difficulties to continue with the progress.

“The further progress we achieve， the bigger challenges we will face，” Liu said.

Nearly half of Gansus 2.89 million people remaining in poverty are without working ability， according to Yang.

“We will continue to explore better measures to lift them out of poverty，”Yang said.