Two villages that sprung up along Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province after the 1998 floods have become tourist attractions and the center of the country's call for ecological migration.
In order to improve the natural environment, the country is promoting the resettlement of people in ecologically difficult environments and the rebuilding of some of these areas.
The first 500 visitors to the villages of Huangpojing and Nan'anxincun arrived just in time for the weeklong National Day holidays after the local government has promoted the villages as the "Huangpo-Nan'an Ecological Tourism Zone."
The villages were established to house victims of the 1998 floods.
A visitor from Wuhan in Hubei Province said:
"I never imagined resettlement could have brought people such a comfortable life."
In 1998, prolonged rainfall raised the water in Poyang Lake above the alert level and caused a direct threat to the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, a major north-south trunk line.
To save the railway, floodwater was diverted and farmers were evacuated to a safe area where Huangpojing Village later took shape.
"Before 1998, my family of six huddled in three dilapidated log cabins," said Wei Qinwei, a Huangpojing villager. "Whenever it rained, our hearts trembled with fear."
As the floods came repeatedly, Wei and his family could only earn a meager several thousand yuan a year from their paddies.
After the 1998 floods, some 5,266 rural households with a total population of 24,000 moved to the new village and have benefited from the preferential policies granted by local governments.
Standing in front of his new house, Wei can't help but express his pleasure.
"Under the guidance of rural technicians, we plant cash crops like water chestnuts and lotus roots in flood seasons and then plant paddies when the water subsides," he said.
According to Liang Jiayou, head of the village's Party branch, the per capital annual income in Huangpojing has increased from 800 yuan in 1998 to 1,600 yuan in 2001.
"With the constant improvement in our living conditions and annual income, we become more self-confident and more willing to communicate with others. I believe our lives will continue to change for the better," Liang said.
To deal with possible floods around Poyang Lake, the government has started a massive project to make sure the lake's size return to its 1954 level.
In the 1950s, the government encouraged people to reclaim flooded or marshy lands along Poyang Lake, which not only narrowed the lake's size but also seized the normal waterway, making surrounding areas increasingly vulnerable to floods.
(eastday.com October 10, 2002)
