Qinghai relocations revolutionizing lives

XINING — When she was young, Zhang Xuelian never thought about leaving the deep mountains where she was born and raised on the fringes of Haidong in Qinghai province.

That all changed one summer evening five years ago, when Zhang was faced with a combination of sickness and poverty. That evening, her second child was delirious with a fever and her husband was out at work. She was forced to take her child in a handcart across rugged terrain for two hours to reach a health center. Her child survived, but Zhang had an agonizing realization. With the family's meager income, they could never afford a house in town, forcing them to live a life of insecurity, far from services like healthcare.

When news of a poverty-alleviation relocation program reached the village, Zhang was thrilled by the prospect of a new life.

Between 2019 and 2020, 6,770 residents of 105 villages, including Zhang's family, bid farewell to their shabby houses in the mountains, and were relocated to the Qilidian resettlement community in Ledu district, Haidong. "Thanks to government subsidies, it cost only 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for my family of five to move to a new 85-square-meter home," Zhang said.

In 2018, the local government spent 490 million yuan building the community, which has a kindergarten, a nursing home, a hospital, a square and a market.

Just months after their resettlement, Zhang's husband suffered an ischemic stroke, which resulted in hemiplegia, and he has since become bedridden. Her mother-in-law also has disabilities and chronic health conditions that require medication.

Discovering this dire situation, the community committee assigned a family doctor to provide Zhang's husband and mother-in-law regular medical attention.

The community committee also enrolled Zhang in cooking courses and offered her a job at the community school canteen. Earning a salary of 3,000 yuan a month, Zhang is now able to support her family.

By the end of 2020, more than 9.6 million people like Zhang had been relocated from inhospitable areas to resettlement communities.

Thanks to improved living conditions and livelihoods, previously impoverished people have experienced a transformative shift in their lives that would have taken generations to accomplish previously.

Zhang sees Qilidian as a new start. "It's an opportunity for me to keep moving forward in life, and to be hopeful and grateful," she said.

Xinhua