Hao Aihong, a 48-year-old farmer with two children attending school in Zuoquan County, north China's Shanxi Province, couldn't conceal his excitement when talking about his new home—a 100-square-meter apartment with a spacious living room and three bedrooms. Because of a left leg disability, Hao has been unable to work while his wife earns a paltry salary as a waitress in a local restaurant.
"Now, my family doesn't have to live in rented spaces or travel long distances from our dilapidated cottage to work. All I paid for our new home was 10,000 yuan ($1,400)," Hao told Beijing Review, adding that the market price of the apartment is about 500,000 yuan ($71,750), a pretty formidable figure for a low-income family.
Zuoquan, a county in east Shanxi, is one of China's 592 impoverished counties. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), more than 4,578 people will move into clean, neat apartments like Hao's, with the first batch of villagers completing the relocation before November 20.
So far, a total of 350 million yuan ($50.2 million) has been invested in the poverty alleviation relocation project, with construction of four projects finished, covering an area of 152,987 million square meters capable of accommodating 4,886 people. The program aims to relocate those living in physically disadvantaged areas to more developed areas.
After completing the resettlement, poverty-stricken people like Hao and his wife will find more job opportunities available since a series of poverty reduction projects have been carried out to help them get employment on plantations, livestock farms and industrial workshops.
By the end of 2017, roughly 80 villages in Zuoquan had gotten rid of poverty, with the poverty incidence declining to 11.89 percent. According to county government plans, this year another 44 villages will step out of poverty, with the poverty incidence further dropping by 0.51 percentage points.
(Reporting from Zuoquan, Shanxi Province)
Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
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