Chinese Government Lends Helping Hand to Poor Peasants
RALPH WENGE, CNN ANCHOR: Outside investment has turned many of China's coastal cities into boomtowns. Now, officials are trying to expand that prosperity into the interior of the country. In the Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northern China, the government is moving hundreds of thousands of poor peasants from the rural mountains to more prosperous cities. CCTV has that story.</s>DONG HUAN, CCTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mountainous region in southern Ningxia Hui is known for its harsh living environment. With little rainfall and limited arable land, the region is inflicted with frequent natural disasters. Local farmers have been living in poverty for ages, the annual per capital income of around 100 yen. In early 1980's, the region had 1.4 million people living in poverty. Hwasi (ph) village located in the suburbs of Ningxia Hui, the original capital of Ningxia Hui was established in 1996. The 1,000 families in the village are all from the mountainous regions in southern Ningxia Hui.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I came here in 1996. The life of my family has been totally changed since then. I have made a fortune by selling cashmere from my hometown. Last year, we moved into this new house.</s>HUAN: Chen Ting Wo (ph) is only one of the many successful people in Hwasi. The village registered in average per capita income of over 2,000 yen last year.</s>NIU XUEWEN, VILLAGER (through translator): When my family first moved here, we lived in a small mud-brickhouse. We are now building a new house with five rooms.</s>HUAN: Hwasi is only one of the 23 resettled areas in Ningxia Hui. Since 1982, the local government has relocated 280,000 inhabitants of mountainous regions in southern Ningxia Hui to more accommodating places. (on camera): These farmers must no longer worry about when the rains will come, but instead can concentrate on how much they will harvest this year. (voice-over): The relocation project also makes life easier for farmers still living in the mountainous region as they now have more farmland.</s>LIU ZHONG, VICE CHAIRMAN, NINGXIA HUI AUTONOMOUS REGION (through translator): We are now working with the 200,000 local farmers who are still living with poverty in the region. We want to make sure that when natural disaster occur, their lives will not become worse.</s>HUAN: The local government has also launched a gigantic canal construction project to pump waters from the Yellow River to barren farmland. This is Dong Huan of China Central Television for CNN WORLD REPORT.