Home is where heart is

Chen and her family used to live in a 40-square-meter adobe house up in the mountain, with poor transportation links and limited access to clean water. In comparison, her new home-two 150-square-meter floors-is fully fitted with water pipes and central heating. The living room is freshly furnished with an L-shaped sofa and a flat-screen TV.

Chen's family was among 36 poor households relocated from four nearby villages in 2019, supported by financial assistance from the local government.

"We spent 15,000 yuan ($2,196) to build this new house, while the government provided 257,300 yuan in subsidies, which made up most of the total cost," says Chen. According to local officials, the total investment of this resettlement village was about 8.4 million yuan, including the cost of building the houses and public facilities.