Rebuilding gives poor farmer a fresh start and better life

Visitors to Chen Zongqiang's new home are impressed by the sausages and bacon that are hung in his spacious, villalike, two-story house.

"It is a tradition of Sichuan people to celebrate Spring Festival with sausages and bacon. Ours is an agricultural province," the 33-year-old resident of Yanxikou village in Baoxing county, Sichuan province, said with a smile. As he spoke, his 8-year-old son lit fireworks outside their house, which is at the foot of a mountain.

The festive air might give the impression of someone who has always enjoyed a wealthy life, but Chen was once a poor farmer whose life began anew after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Ya'an, the administrative center of his home county, on April 20, 2013.