More than 100,000 rural women in Ningxia Hui autonomous region have left their farms for other jobs in 2009, according to the human resources department of the regional government.

Starting from this January, governments at all levels of the region began offerring a variety of training courses for rural women, including gardening, flower arrangement and knitting.

After receiving the training, thousands of women have found jobs other than farming close to their home and earn more than 1,200 yuan ($176) every month.