Beijing: The government should speed up a house renovation program for Yi ethnic groups in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Sichuan province, said Yang Jianqiang, vice minister of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

The program is designed to improve three types of houses – thatched houses, houses built mainly with wood, and houses built mainly with stone - for around 80,000 families in 11 poverty-stricken counties that enjoy priority state investment, according to www.seac.gov.cn, the official website of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission (SEAC).

Two women from the Yi ethnic group plaster black ashes on each other's face during the "black face festival" in Qiubei county, southwest China's Yunnan province, August 15, 2009. [Xinhua] More photos

Yang was visiting Liangshan to learn more about the area’s economic and social development and push for greater poverty reduction and education.

Liangshan has an area of 60,423 square kilometers and over 4.2 million inhabitants (2005). Over 1.6 million of them are ethnic Yi people in Liangshan, accounting for 23 percent of the overall population of Yi in China.