Relocated villagers move on to a brighter future

SHIJIAZHUANG - An old water tank was the only keepsake that Tang Rongming brought with him when his family moved in July from their old adobe house deep in the mountains to their new two-story home.

Tang, 75, said his family had used the tank to store water for daily use when they lived in the Heilingou village in Fuping county, Hebei province. The village was in a remote backwater tucked away on Taihang Mountain.

"Heilingou village had only two water wells and faced severe water shortages," Tang said. "The water tank, which is even older than me, helped us through the most difficult times.