In the middle of desert, a new town tries to prosper
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When Yang Cunbao and his friends first arrived in Hongsibao, a village in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, it was a barren land with harsh weather conditions and a sparse population. At their welcome banquet hosted by the local government, two sheep provided too much food for them and all the local villagers. The next morning, Yang and his friends were awakened by blowing gusts of wind that sent sand through the doors and piling on their beds.
That was 10 years ago. Now, Hongsibao is a developing town home to several hundred thousand people. Since 1995, the Chinese government has spent hundreds of millions of yuan on a massive resettlement program. Last year, it announced that it would spend another 2.8 billion yuan to relocate 206,000 more people to the Hongsibao area.
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Ma Kegui, a villager in Hongsibao, lives in a house installed with modern technology. |
The mountainous Ningxia has long been parched in drought, receiving less than 200 millimeters of rainfall a year. Between 1991 and 1995, the region had a series of severe droughts, leaving millions of people without water and killing 4 million livestock. The dry and desert-like conditions have made Ningxia the poorest province in China. In an effort to lift the people out of poverty, the government began an irrigation project to pump water from the nearby Yellow River to irrigate a total area of 133,000 hectares.
"When we got to the town, we found the land was barren and the sands blown by the wind blinded our vision," said Lan Xiufeng, one of the "ecological refugees" who were relocated to Hongsibao. "Many of the migrants who couldn't get much from the land in the beginning returned to their homes. But I found the land to be adjacent to the Yellow River and plainer than those in my hometown. So I stayed and bred three sheep."
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Ma Kegui, a villager in Hongsibao, feeds one of his cows. He sold another cow several days ago to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the mass migration in southern Xingxia Hui Autonomous Region. |
The irrigation system, which was completed in 2002, began tunneling water to Lan's farmland in 1999. His income began increasing sharply. He made 6,000 yuan (US$878.45) in 2001 and 10,000 yuan ($1,464.56) in 2002. The next year, he sold his stock of 180 sheep for 17,000 yuan (US$2,489.75), with which he bought four buffalos and built a new four-room house.
Lan is not alone. The average annual income of Hongsibao residents has increased from 500 yuan 10 years ago to 3,030 yuan. Moreover, about 99 percent of children are able to go to school, and the town has hospitals, roads, running water and TV channels.
Yang, who is now the deputy director of the publicity office of Wuzhong, another city in Ningxia, recently revisited his old town. He filmed a documentary about another one of Hongsibao's migrants, Liang Yusheng, who was chosen by his father to go. He had made a deal with his son: If the willow twig he gave Liang failed to bud, then Liang could return. After a harsh winter, Liang was surprised to find the willow alive.
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The road connects Hongsibao with the world outside the village. |
The farmers who didn't return home reaped the harvest the next year. The richest villagers are proud of their decision to stay. With harvests becoming larger every year, Liang's brother and father soon moved there, too.
In 2007, Hongsibao restructured its agricultural industry and began targeting grapes as its special product. Qiao Wenshang, who moved to Hongsibao in 2001, was the first farmer to accept government subsidies to plant grapes on his 1.8-hectare plot. For several years, he and his family had planted corn on their land, which sat empty for part of the year during the off-season. Some villagers would go to the cities to look for work.
"It is a pity to plant nothing in such good soil," Qiao said. "But farming cannot earn much money for villagers."
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Three women sit on heaps of corn while preparing to make maize flour. |
By following guidelines and attending training classes, Qiao gradually became an expert in grape planting. This year, Qiao's farm produced 1,300 kilograms of grapes that will be used to make wine, raking in more than 100,000 yuan. Inspired by his success, other farmers are starting to plant their own grapes. Although it is winter now, the frosty vineyards are dotted with farmers plowing the lands and cutting branches.
"Their wives and children won't forgive them if they earn less than the others," a local official teased.
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