Villagers move up from old 'machete'

Free apartments

Yang is one of 913 people who have relocated to Tongren from one of the poorest villages in one of China's poorest provinces.

The government has provided villagers from Yanhe and Songtao counties with free apartments－20 square meters per occupant－including furniture and appliances.

It also offers vocational training to enable farmers to work in skilled trades.

Yang earned 1,500 yuan ($230) a month as a cleaner after arriving in the city in the summer. The government later helped her find a new job doing quality control for a local tobacco company that pays 2,000 yuan a month as a base salary, plus performance-based bonuses.

"We had no expendable income in Yikoudao," Yang said. "It was really hard to make money farming there. We earned just enough to survive."

So, she and her husband alternately worked as migrants or stayed to look after their three children.

Yang only attended primary school for two years. She can read but "can't really write".

Her husband returns from working as a migrant in Zhejiang province once a year, usually for Spring Festival.

Zhu Hailu, their 17-year-old daughter, has adjusted well since the relocation.

"Her classmates and teachers like her," Yang said. "She said it was difficult to understand the other kids' accents at first. But kids learn fast.

She had no problem making friends. She'd come home right after school in the first few months. But now she stays out shopping with the other girls."

Zhu is a year behind in school because she grew up in the village.

"Usually, 17-year-olds are sophomores. But she's a freshman," Yang said.

The girl started primary school at age 8 rather than 7 because she had to climb for an hour to reach the school from their home.

"The path was dangerous," Yang recalled.

In two years, Zhu will take the national college entrance examination. She hopes to become a civil servant.

Yang appreciates urbanization's conveniences.

"Our home was far from the village center," she recalled. "If we got sick, we'd have to go to a small hospital in Yanhe town. It was over an hour's hike. If you were too sick to walk, a family member would have to carry you. If no relative could, a neighbor would."

In addition to consolidated public facilities, she's grateful for such home amenities as running water. "We washed with a bucket about once a week in the village."

An elderly relative took a while to get used to flushing toilets, she said. Residents agree the relocation offers a better life. But it also poses challenges.

Poverty-alleviation programs arrange for officials from Tongren city and Yanhe county to help the relocated villagers' to adapt to city life.

"It was initially hard to persuade people to move downtown because they'd lived in the village for generations," said Xiao Han, a public servant in Tongren. "They have concerns about city life. It's difficult to serve those without professional skills or education."

So, the village chiefs visited the eldest member of every household to persuade them to relocate, he explained.

"Cremation is also a point of contention," he said. "Many villagers prefer to be buried in hillside tombs alongside their relatives. They fear cremation in cities."