Natural resources help boost living standards

New life

Gu Baoqing said her life has totally changed since the village started developing tourism.

The 72-year-old works for the company cooking local food for tourists. She earns about 2,000 yuan a month.

She lives in a new two-story house and rents her old home to the company for 50,000 yuan a year. She has also rented her land to another business that grows fruit.

"I never imagined I could live a life like this," she said, recalling how her family used to rely on planting potatoes and corn on scraps of land in the mountains.

"Now, I never need to climb the hills and plough land."

Luotuowan is not the only village that has lifted its residents out of poverty by making use of natural resources.

Some have encouraged companies to develop unused mountainous areas to grow apples and pears. With unpolluted water and clement weather, yields are high and the fruits are extremely popular.

Last year, the number of registered impoverished people in Fuping fell to 832, accounting for just 0.45 percent of the population.

The average annual per capita disposable income rose from 3,262 yuan in 2012 to 9,844 yuan last year.

In February, Fuping was removed from the list of poverty-stricken counties.

"We will make even greater efforts to consolidate the poverty alleviation success and establish a guarantee system to prevent poverty from returning," said Jia Ruisheng, the county's head.