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Tucked in the winding hills and the middle reaches of the Hongshui River is Dahua Yao Autonomous County of southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The county has a poor population of 80,000, accounting for one sixth of its entire population. Like many other poor Chinese counties and cities, Dahua has in recent years been striving to alleviate poverty through relocation of its poor residents from the countryside to the cities.

The new town in Dahua Yao Autonomous County. [Photo by Zhang Lulu/China.org.cn]

At the administrative office of the county's relocation and urbanization projects, there is what the local officials call a "battle map," detailing the number of poor people in its 16 villages and towns, the corresponding relocation projects and the officials responsible for the projects. This is indeed a battle for the county, which is a national-level poor county aiming to relocate more than 30,000 rural people by 2019.

Since late 2012, Dahua has been building a new town northwest of its city center, an effort which combines urbanization and poverty reduction. The new town eyes relocating more than 20,000 people from the poor mountainous rural areas or areas affected by nearby hydropower stations to the county.

Relocation to new town

Wei Ruipeng is a 53-year-old farmer who used to live in Liuye Township. He grew corn and raised pigs and chicken to support his family. After feeding the family of four, he found the family struggled with only 300 yuan (US$44) all year round. After learning about the county's relocation projects, Wei filed an application to be moved to the new town in 2014.

The county government had several criteria to assess the application, according to Wang Hantian, the head of Dahua Development and Reform Bureau. There are quotas for each village and township, and applicants must have less than 0.3 mu arable land per person, have no access to water and electricity and have poor transportation and living conditions. This is to help out those who are really in need and ensure the project is economically feasible, according to Wang.

Wei Ruipeng, who met all the criteria, was among the first batch of people who were moved to the new town. Now his family live in an apartment building of the new town.

As planed, Wei has to pay 1,380 yuan per square meter for his new home, which was less than half of the average house price in Dahua. The government subsidized 400 yuan per square meter, leaving Wei to pay only 980 yuan per square meter. After borrowing from his relatives the down payment, Wei chose to pay the mortgage at a favorable interest rate. "Living in the city now is much more convenient (than in rural areas)," said Wei.

According to Wang, a total of 40 apartment buildings have been built in the new town since 2012, with more than 5,500 people moving in.

New jobs at home

After being moved into the county, people like Wei Ruipeng, who used to be a farmer have to find new ways to support themselves in their new home. Dahua government has rolled out a set of policies to help the settlers.

Within the new town, there is an "Entrepreneurship Park for Rural Workers," which includes a business incubator for rural migrant workers, a warehouse and logistics area and a factory area for labor-intensive industries.

According to Wei Jiangcheng, the vice director of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, the entrepreneurship park has favorable policies for individual entrepreneurs and businesses who choose to come here, including a two-year rent exemption and subsidy on water and electricity fares. The park favors incoming businesses which use local labor, especially settlers in the new town, according to Wei.

Since late last year, the park has attracted 49 labor-intensive small and medium-sized businesses, 30 of which have already started running. These businesses have recruited 352 local rural workers, including 35 settlers, among whom is Wei Ruipeng, who left his land in Liuye Township and became a security guard at the park. Now he and his wife, who works as a cleaner in the park, earn around 2,000 yuan per month.

Other settlers and rural workers have found jobs with the small and medium-sized businesses in the park. Lan Meizhong used to work in the neighboring, more affluent Guangdong Province, but in order to take care of her son who is a student in Dahua County, she moved back and took a job with a small button processing company in the park. Though the salaries are less than that in Guangdong, she felt content with working at home and being able to look after her son.

According to the local government, the new town in Dahua will eventually accommodate 15,000 resettled households. Besides the newly built apartment buildings and entrepreneurship park, the construction of new buildings is well under way.

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