According to Shi Jun, Vice Governor of Gansu, the provincial government invested 1.55 billion yuan ($226.94 million) from 2005 to 2008 on drinking water projects, building 35,831 water cellars and solving the water problem for 3.61 million people in rural areas.

Green technologies

Ran said that after years of hard work her family is living a happy life. Besides having access to clean water in their own home, they have some cutting-edge technologies to improve their quality of life.

Visitors often comment on the outdoor solar oven she proudly displays in her yard. The oven has brought a new level of convenience to her life.

The solar-powered oven is a large concave disk that can heat water to the boiling point through the power of the sun alone. It captures, accumulates and stores solar energy needed to heat a kettle of water. Besides heating liquids, the appliance can get as hot as 220 degrees Celsius and deliver dry heat to function as an oven and autoclave. And since the oven works on accumulated rather than concentrated solar energy, it only needs diffused sunlight to work.

"Operating the solar oven is simple and only needs about 15 minutes to boil a kettle of water," Ran said. "I don't have to burn wood or dry grass to boil water any longer when I need hot water."

The local government gave farmers subsidies so that they only needed to pay about 200 yuan ($29.28) to buy an oven, she said.

Villagers also received free training from the Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute. To promote the new appliance in rural areas, the institute has trained 2,000 families and donated one solar oven for each family, said institute Deputy Director Zhang Lanying.

"Our aim is to encourage those families that have done the training to pass on those skills they learned to other families," said Zhang.

According to Ma, 123 households in Daping have been equipped with 130 solar ovens.

Ran's kitchen is now being fueled by using biogas, a combustible mix of methane and carbon dioxide that is produced by the breakdown of organic matter. "Biogas is clean and doesn't give off any smell when I cook meals," said Ran.

Villagers create their own biogas using a device called a digester. Ran's was built under a sheepfold, which uses sheep waste to make the fuel, she said.

Besides fecal matter, household waste, dry branches, leaves, grass and crop waste can be added to the biogas digester to produce fuel, Ran said.

"In the past, we had to cut down trees or buy coal to cook meals," said Ran. The need for fuel caused massive deforestation around the village. Cooking with wood and coal also produced clouds of harmful smoke and particulates, which damaged people's health and the environment.

"Our village was always covered over by a layer of pollution," Ran said. "Since we started using solar ovens and biogas kitchens, the environment has become better. Seeing clear blue skies is not a vain hope to us anymore and trees are also being protected, bringing us more greenery in our daily lives."

"We have found a way to protect the ecological environment and bring more benefits to farmers at the same time. It is a win-win situation," said Qi.

Qi said that in recent years, farmers have put forth efforts to grow livestock grass that can be used not only to feed animals but also in biogas digesters. Farmers now grow 106.6 hectares of grass each year.

"With so much grass, farmers can also breed sheep," said Qi.

Ran said all families in Daping breed sheep and some have introduced new breeds.

"A baby sheep can grow up in eight to 10 months and one ewe can deliver one or two baby sheep a year. A sheep can be sold for 1,000 yuan ($146.41). My family have two ewes, which means we can get 2,000 to 4,000 yuan ($292.93-$585.65) a year for breeding sheep alone," Ran said.

And, of course, the waste from the sheep and other livestock is used to create biogas fuel. But the additive effects of this organic lifestyle continue. The dregs from biogas digesters can be used as fertilizers to grow more grass.

"We have formed an ecologically based cycle of producing grass, livestock, energy, fertilizers and income," Qi said.

More than 758,000 solar ovens and 454,000 biogas digesters had been built across the province by the end of 2008. Meanwhile, the annual consumption of biogas reached 150 million cubic meters, said Shi.

A symbol and a livelihood

Dingxi is one of China's major potato plant bases. According to data provided by the local government, more than 233,000 hectares of potatoes are planted annually in the region, producing more than 5 million tons of the crop.

Liu Yuxiu, a 63-year-old Daping farmer and head of the village's potato growers' association, said the community has built 100 new potato storage cellars and two markets for farmers of the village. The annual trading volume has reached 80,000 tons.

"In recent years, we introduced some new species, one of which has black skin and lots of starch. This potato can be sold for 12 yuan ($1.76) per kg, much higher than the 1 yuan ($0.15) you get for ordinary potatoes," Liu said. Different potatoes can also be made into different products. She said superior potatoes were usually processed into fine starches and chips and sold to corporations like McDonald's and Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp. Average and little potatoes can be made into ordinary starches and potato noodles to be sold to restaurants.

"We have formed a mature industrial chain for collecting, selling and processing potatoes, which can guarantee an annual income of 1,500 yuan ($219.62) for each farmer," Qi said.

The village has also established a 32-member paper-cutting association for which Ran is the president.

"Paper cutting is one of the region's popular crafts," said Ran, who can cut a piece of ordinary paper into a vivid pattern in about three minutes.

She said many tradesmen come to buy their paper cuttings and resell them in other provinces and countries.

"It is only one of our hobbies," Ran said. "But we can each earn about 3,000 yuan ($439.24) from paper cutting each year."