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For generations Wang Wangui’s family has lived in Yinda Village, Jiuquan City of Gansu Province. The village is an island of growth surrounded by desert, in an area along western China’s historic Silk Road that once linked ancient China to the West more than 1,000 years ago.
Moving On Up
Long gone are the days when this was a stop on an important trade route, but life still marches on for the residents of Yinda. Wang Wangui, aged 57, and her neighbors have all moved recently into new, colonnaded homes.
With only 625 households, Yinda is a village of average economic prospects in Jiuquan. Wang Wangui lives with her eldest son Liu Jianpeng and his family, sharing a five-room home that covers an area of over 100 square meters. Their house is well furnished with all the modern conveniences they could want and refined in its décor.
Just a decade ago most of the villagers, including Wang’s family, lived in adobe houses, eking out a meager living. At that time people along the eastern coast were already adapting to lives of affluence. However, due to the impassable geographical position and laggard infrastructures in agriculture and transit, people in western China lived in great want.
Jiuquan lies in a semi-arid region with an average annual rainfall of 84 millimeters. This is far bellow the annual evaporation rate of 2,141 millimeters. The area’s agricultural production relies solely on irrigation using snow melt from the nearby Qilian Mountains, with an ever-decreasing annual snowfall. In 2000 the government built 10 motor-pumped wells, allocated pumps and rebuilt irrigation canals, which worked to solve the area’s water problems and guarantee stable crop yields in the short term.
Jiuquan’s officials then went on to launch a series of cooperative projects in fruit and vegetable seed production with the U.S., Japan and Germany. Since 2003 Wang Wangui’s agriculture plan has shifted from grain crops to seed production. Last year Wang’s family earned RMB 15,000 by producing sweet pepper and calabash crops on three mu of land. They generated five times more money than yielded by traditional grain corps such as wheat and corn. And they have an additional two mu of land set aside for planting wheat, cabbage and radish. These are mostly for self-consumption, but the surplus adds a substantial extra income for the family.
Integrating the farmer’s housing demands and town infrastructure construction, Jiuquan began to popularize the Comfortable Housing Project in 2005. According to the area’s unique conditions and its residents’ needs, the government invited experts to design economical and practical homes for the local people. These homes were then subsidized with a RMB 4,000 grant from the government for any family willing to build. Through subsidies, their bank savings and a little money borrowed from relatives and friends, Wang’s family was able to move into a spacious new home.
Other Sources of Income
In Wang Wangui’s family, the main source of income has always come from their outside wages, though the profits from their land have increased dramatically. Beginning in 2000, the government began investing in the construction of roads connecting the villages with other towns of Jiuquan. The city boasts access to the world through its highways, airport and railway. Convenient transportation boosts trade and investment opportunities while at the same time providing a route for the youth of Yinda Village to seek employment in urban areas.
Thanks to the state’s policies for new energy incentives, Jiuquan is set to become China’s largest base for new energy production and research. One of these projects includes the country’s first ten-million-kw-level wind power generating station, which will provide over 17,000 job vacancies along with another 10,000 jobs in related industries.
Jiuquan’s burgeoning opportunities are attracting increasing amounts of young people to the area looking for work. Liu Jianping, Wang Wangui’s second son, has worked as a chef at a hotel in the city for six years. Though he’s just 24 years old, his monthly wages are now RMB 2,200, which is the same level as local government functionaries. In 2008, Liu Jianping purchased a 97-square-meter apartment in Jiuquan on a loan. “Village girls now always insist on an apartment in the city as a precondition for marriage,” said Wang Wangui, “Kids today long for an urban life despite living in a decent house in the village.”
Wang’s eldest son Liu Jianpeng is a postman with the Yinda Village post office where, including his commission from farm chemical sales, he earns RMB 1,400 monthly. Everyday after finishing his route, Liu Jianpeng spends the rest of the day helping his wife and mother on the family farm.
New Hope
Yinda Village has had its own unique tradition of music and dance for over half a century. The village features a regular theater, a 15-member band and even a dance company. As a member of the band, Liu Jianpeng plays a wide assortment of instruments, including the drums, saxophone, and the cello. His wife Zhao Juan does well as a folk dancer in the local dance company. During the off-season, the couple spends every night rehearsing at the theater, which puts on dozens of non-commercial performances each year. As a dance enthusiast, Wang Wangui enjoys Tibetan folk dancing three times a week in the village square as a means to keep fit.
Since her sons are doing well for themselves, Wang doesn’t have to worry so much about taking care of her family. In 2007 the whole family joined the government-subsidized new rural cooperative medical system – each person pays just RMB 30, granting them a 70 percent reimbursement on all of their medical expenses. Starting this year, villagers above the age of 60 are entitled to an annual pension of RMB 600.
With RMB 300,000 in government investments, a three-story elementary school was constructed in 2006. The school is equipped with distance learning technology, so that the children here can join classes given by excellent teachers from bigger cities in China. All children in the village’s primary and high schools enjoy a free education. Students who don’t make it into a university can attend government-subsidized vocational training schools.
Wang Wangui’s family members have different expectations for the future. Wang Wangui already has a seven-year-old granddaughter, and hopes her eldest son will produce a matching grandson for her. According to Gansu’s family planning policies, a rural family with only a female child is eligible for another child after the girl turns four. Zhao Juan the daughter-in-law agrees to take the opportunity, but her top priority is that her daughter have access to a good education, so that someday she can go off and start her own career in the big city.Liu Jianpeng hopes to become a permanent employee and be promoted to master chef, raising his salary to RMB 3,000. The family home is in need of a new solar heater, so the whole family can enjoy warm showers at home. Out of the desert an oasis grows for Wang Wangui’s family.
Moving On Up
Long gone are the days when this was a stop on an important trade route, but life still marches on for the residents of Yinda. Wang Wangui, aged 57, and her neighbors have all moved recently into new, colonnaded homes.
With only 625 households, Yinda is a village of average economic prospects in Jiuquan. Wang Wangui lives with her eldest son Liu Jianpeng and his family, sharing a five-room home that covers an area of over 100 square meters. Their house is well furnished with all the modern conveniences they could want and refined in its décor.
Just a decade ago most of the villagers, including Wang’s family, lived in adobe houses, eking out a meager living. At that time people along the eastern coast were already adapting to lives of affluence. However, due to the impassable geographical position and laggard infrastructures in agriculture and transit, people in western China lived in great want.
Jiuquan lies in a semi-arid region with an average annual rainfall of 84 millimeters. This is far bellow the annual evaporation rate of 2,141 millimeters. The area’s agricultural production relies solely on irrigation using snow melt from the nearby Qilian Mountains, with an ever-decreasing annual snowfall. In 2000 the government built 10 motor-pumped wells, allocated pumps and rebuilt irrigation canals, which worked to solve the area’s water problems and guarantee stable crop yields in the short term.
Jiuquan’s officials then went on to launch a series of cooperative projects in fruit and vegetable seed production with the U.S., Japan and Germany. Since 2003 Wang Wangui’s agriculture plan has shifted from grain crops to seed production. Last year Wang’s family earned RMB 15,000 by producing sweet pepper and calabash crops on three mu of land. They generated five times more money than yielded by traditional grain corps such as wheat and corn. And they have an additional two mu of land set aside for planting wheat, cabbage and radish. These are mostly for self-consumption, but the surplus adds a substantial extra income for the family.
Integrating the farmer’s housing demands and town infrastructure construction, Jiuquan began to popularize the Comfortable Housing Project in 2005. According to the area’s unique conditions and its residents’ needs, the government invited experts to design economical and practical homes for the local people. These homes were then subsidized with a RMB 4,000 grant from the government for any family willing to build. Through subsidies, their bank savings and a little money borrowed from relatives and friends, Wang’s family was able to move into a spacious new home.
Other Sources of Income
In Wang Wangui’s family, the main source of income has always come from their outside wages, though the profits from their land have increased dramatically. Beginning in 2000, the government began investing in the construction of roads connecting the villages with other towns of Jiuquan. The city boasts access to the world through its highways, airport and railway. Convenient transportation boosts trade and investment opportunities while at the same time providing a route for the youth of Yinda Village to seek employment in urban areas.
Thanks to the state’s policies for new energy incentives, Jiuquan is set to become China’s largest base for new energy production and research. One of these projects includes the country’s first ten-million-kw-level wind power generating station, which will provide over 17,000 job vacancies along with another 10,000 jobs in related industries.
Jiuquan’s burgeoning opportunities are attracting increasing amounts of young people to the area looking for work. Liu Jianping, Wang Wangui’s second son, has worked as a chef at a hotel in the city for six years. Though he’s just 24 years old, his monthly wages are now RMB 2,200, which is the same level as local government functionaries. In 2008, Liu Jianping purchased a 97-square-meter apartment in Jiuquan on a loan. “Village girls now always insist on an apartment in the city as a precondition for marriage,” said Wang Wangui, “Kids today long for an urban life despite living in a decent house in the village.”
Wang’s eldest son Liu Jianpeng is a postman with the Yinda Village post office where, including his commission from farm chemical sales, he earns RMB 1,400 monthly. Everyday after finishing his route, Liu Jianpeng spends the rest of the day helping his wife and mother on the family farm.
New Hope
Yinda Village has had its own unique tradition of music and dance for over half a century. The village features a regular theater, a 15-member band and even a dance company. As a member of the band, Liu Jianpeng plays a wide assortment of instruments, including the drums, saxophone, and the cello. His wife Zhao Juan does well as a folk dancer in the local dance company. During the off-season, the couple spends every night rehearsing at the theater, which puts on dozens of non-commercial performances each year. As a dance enthusiast, Wang Wangui enjoys Tibetan folk dancing three times a week in the village square as a means to keep fit.
Since her sons are doing well for themselves, Wang doesn’t have to worry so much about taking care of her family. In 2007 the whole family joined the government-subsidized new rural cooperative medical system – each person pays just RMB 30, granting them a 70 percent reimbursement on all of their medical expenses. Starting this year, villagers above the age of 60 are entitled to an annual pension of RMB 600.
With RMB 300,000 in government investments, a three-story elementary school was constructed in 2006. The school is equipped with distance learning technology, so that the children here can join classes given by excellent teachers from bigger cities in China. All children in the village’s primary and high schools enjoy a free education. Students who don’t make it into a university can attend government-subsidized vocational training schools.
Wang Wangui’s family members have different expectations for the future. Wang Wangui already has a seven-year-old granddaughter, and hopes her eldest son will produce a matching grandson for her. According to Gansu’s family planning policies, a rural family with only a female child is eligible for another child after the girl turns four. Zhao Juan the daughter-in-law agrees to take the opportunity, but her top priority is that her daughter have access to a good education, so that someday she can go off and start her own career in the big city.Liu Jianpeng hopes to become a permanent employee and be promoted to master chef, raising his salary to RMB 3,000. The family home is in need of a new solar heater, so the whole family can enjoy warm showers at home. Out of the desert an oasis grows for Wang Wangui’s family.