No drinking water supply, no electricity, no roads connected, shabby houses......,"A load of firewood is carried downhill in the morning for a pack of rice back home in the evening". This is the unique yet saddening “scenery” often seen for the residents in the isolated mountainous areas.

The "home" in the mountains

The "home" in the mountains

The "home" in the mountains

There are 175 impoverishedvillages in Dafang County, located in the Wumeng Cold Highland Area, Bijie Municipality, Guizhou Province. In some so-called villages, not a single household can be found,and it will take more than half an hour on the mountain roads to reach even if a row of mud houses are finally seen. This explains the pet phrase of the mountain residents which literally means "You’ll cry on the way to a house seen far away".

Mr. Zhang’s shabby hut will be found in deep forests, after some huge mountains have been climbed over. It’s common that the villagers run out of food, due to the high elevation and the few cultivated land resources. Because ofthe travel inconvenience, the children here have to spend over 10 hours on the “high ladder” before they get to school and they can only return home once a week; some of the elderly have not gone downhill for years and are unable to get treatment for their illness. There are 7000 households of 20 thousand people in this kind of situation in Dafang County.

To relieve the poverty of the impoverished population who live in an area where"people can not be raised by their land”, the National Development and Reform Commission recently issued the National Resettlement and Poverty Alleviation During the 13th Five-Year Planwith the approval of the State Council, in accordance with which, nearly 10 million impoverished people whose information has been recorded and carded will be relocated within five years.

Evergrande New Village – Panorama of Happiness Village No.2.

Supported and inspired by the CPPCC, Evergrande Group started its one-on-one assistance to Dafang onlast December 1st, with voluntary investment worth 3 billion yuan within the followingthree years, and planned to stably liftthe 180 thousand impoverished population in Dafang County out of poverty by the end of 2018, through a package of overall measures.

Evergrande New Village – Happiness Village No.2.

"Resettlement" is an essential part of the package.Prior to theNational Day this year, quite a few poverty-stricken families, who have been living in the deep mountains and forests for generations, will move into the new homes donated by Evergrande Group.

After selecting his house in the "Happiness Village No.2" by lottery on September 24th, Mr. Zhang held the hands of one personnel from the Poverty Alleviation Office of Evergrande Group, keeping saying "Thanks" and choking with sobs. Visitingher new house, an old lady kept feeling the snow-white kitchen rangewith her hands and said she only saw black range before.

In order to root the stale ideasand psychological burden out of these villagers’ mind,Evergrande Group tries hard to make sure they live well and get out of poverty after they move away from the mountainous areas. Evergrande Group has donated a base for planting greenhouse vegetable at "Happiness Village No. 2", with two greenhouses of 240 square meters each for every household, so that the relocated people won’t have to worry about their livelihood.

Evergrande Group has made plans for 50 relocation projects like "Happiness Village No. 2" which is supported by industry. ShexiangAncient Town and other ten “happiness villages” have now been completely under construction, and the happiness villages No. 2, 5 and 8 will be delivered around the National Day this year, then 6000 people are expected to be relocated at the yearend.

The impoverished households in new houses

In addition to settlement, Evergrande also accelerates the completion of the task by the means of industry, recruitment, business start-up, education and living security for exceptional poverty groups, and 39,874 people have been lifted out of poverty until now.

Moved to tears

Evergrande’s one-on-one assistance to Dafang changes the pattern of poverty alleviation, from dotted areas to the whole county, indirect aid to direct engagement, single donations to all-around support and from broad irrigation totargeted trickling, which has formed a new modefor private enterprises to carry out targeted poverty relief and has provided a good instance for “overcoming weakness” and “promoting common prosperity”, noted Zhou Bohua, member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC and director of Committee for Economic Affairs.