But before that, Yang, her husband and their three children lived in a small mud hut with only two beds, surviving on selling blood. Their tiny piece of stony land could only produce 400 kg of crops a year, if the harvest was good - and survived the harsh conditions.

"The soil is so thin that it gets washed away when a storm hits, burying crops, with only bare rock left," Yang recalled.

With this karstlike landscape covering 53 percent of Qinglong, a county dominated by steep mountains and canyons, land suitable for farming is scarce.

"Back then, we used to go to the blood station in the town to sell our blood," Yang said. "We had to get up early as there would be crowds of villagers lining up."

To keep their three children alive, Yang and her husband had to go twice a month to sell blood.

"Each of us sold half a liter and got 60 yuan each time," she said.

"Virtually all adult villagers in Jiangman sold blood before," said Li Qingwu, who served as the head of the village from 1998 to 2003. "But some were turned away by the blood stations because they failed the blood test."

Villagers could not find jobs in cities then, and most had to get by on an annual income of less than 1,000 yuan, Li said.

Now the per-capita income of the village is more than 8,000 yuan, and all 286 households have moved to new homes, according to official statistics. Most are equipped with electrical appliances such as televisions and washing machines.

All this progress has resulted from a flood prevention project begun in the 1980s, according to Yang Liming, director of Qinglong county's development and reform bureau.

Before 1985, whenever there was heavy rain, the Nanjie community would be hit by mudslides from the nearby mountains, where the rocky landscape cannot hold water.

The situation improved when the local government planted forests and grasslands on the mountains, said Yang.

The success of that project prompted a new round of green efforts to reverse the desertification of the area.

And in 2002, the Qinglong government provided female goats to villagers for free and encouraged the farmers to convert land to grassland. The villagers were to get eight out of every 10 newborn goats, according to the plan.

"I got 20 nanny goats in 2002 and sold the kid goats they produced for more than 10,000 yuan the next year," recalled Yang Hongmin, who built a two-story house last year with the income from raising goats.

Government official Yang Liming said 44.7 million yuan had been invested by government at various levels from 2001 to 2011 to combat the desertification in Qinglong county.

In Guizhou province as a whole, 169 villages have adopted and benefited from the land revitalization project. About 40,000 hectares of grassland has emerged from bare rocky lands and now supports 420,000 goats, all of which has helped to increase the per capita income in these areas from 630 yuan to 5,900 yuan, official statistics show.

Yang Mingchang, a farmer in Gaopo village near Guiyang, has an annual income of 80,000 yuan from raising pigs and making wine. He also plans to start a business catering for tourists who come for the beautiful scenery and unique Miao ethnic culture of the area.

But despite the successes, many people in this mountainous area are still struggling to shake off poverty."The crops from our land can only support our family for half a year, so we have no choice but leave home to the city to work," said Yang Guangfu, who also lives in Gaopo, as she sat around a basin of burning coal with her husband and two daughters for warmth in their wooden house last week.

It was the first time in the past three years she and her husband had returned home from Yuyao, in eastern China's prosperous province of Zhejiang, where they are working.

"We could not make much money there. After basic living expenses, there is not much left," said Yang, explaining why they could not return home every year.

Although not as wealthy as their peers in the village, Yang does not complain.

"We don't have savings, but at least we don't have to suffer hunger now. I can give my daughters 5 yuan each as a gift for Chinese New Year," Yang said.

Yang Rong, Yang's 11-year-old daughter, is at the fifth grade in a primary school in the village. As the family could not support her secondary schooling, in two years she would go to work in Zhejiang with her parents and her elder sister.

Severe challenges also remain in fighting desertification, said Zhang Daquan, a chief official for grassland and animal husbandry of Qinglong.

Yang Jun in Guiyang and Wang Huazhong in Beijing contributed to this story.