Relocated villagers scaling new heights

Leaving poor conditions

Local officials often explain the need for relocation with a simple idea — a single piece of land cannot sustain the people on it.

Peng Jinbin, director of the provincial ecological migration bureau, said Guizhou carried out the country's largest relocation campaign. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the province moved 1.92 million people, about 16.4 percent of the national total, with 95.3 percent of them resettled in urban areas.

Congjiang lies in southern Guizhou, on the border with the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. More than 90 percent of its land is mountainous, with elevation differences of up to 700 and 800 meters. Many villages are isolated, difficult to reach and built on barren land.

"We have Miao, Dong and Zhuang communities among six ethnic groups here, and people came from 20 townships across the county," said Wu Jinke, secretary of the community Party branch.

"Because many residents had poor living conditions back home, construction began around 2018. By 2019, all 1,608 apartments had been assigned, and the occupancy rate is now basically 100 percent," he explained.

Guiyun has become a kind of super community.

According to local authorities, it covers about 16.73 hectares and has resettled 6,625 people. The community has two kindergartens and one primary school, while the county's largest high school is within 1 km.

For many villagers, however, leaving their old home does not mean letting go of the land. The fields they kept in their hometowns still give them a sense of comfort, especially because relatives continue to farm them.

"I still have two mu (0.13 hectares) of farmland back home, and my brother is farming it now," Yang said. "He chose not to relocate. He still has his own land, so he stays busy."