'Sea gypsies' find their feet and prosper

Secure future

After years of raising razor clams, Jiang has saved enough money to launch a private business as a building project contractor, with a pile driver he bought for about 1.1 million yuan.

He has also been able to afford to expand his home from a bungalow to a four-story house.

"I was virtually homeless before, and now I am building homes for others," he said.

Last year, the income generated by Xiaqi village reached 117 million yuan ($16.5 million), with per capita income of over 12,000 yuan.

The success of the Tanka people's resettlement program in Fujian province has also attracted international attention, including from Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit, also general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, who visited Xiaqi village on April 29.

"The local successful practices reflect General Secretary Xi Jinping's idea of targeted poverty reduction and the CPC Central Committee's purpose to benefit the people. There is still a large poverty-stricken population in Laos, so we will bring China's poverty-alleviation experiences and measures back to our country," Bounnhang was quoted by China Central Television as saying during the visit.

Among the prestigious visitors were lawmakers from seven countries in Central America.

Zheng Yue'e, Party chief of the village, said dramatic change is most evident in the number of college graduates it has produced.

"We did not have a single child entering college before we moved here. Now we have 260. They left their boats and went ashore and across the nation," she said.

"Being Tanka made us feel inferior to others when I was a child. Now we can take pride in that," she said.