Three Gorges migrants adapt to new homes

English>>China Society

Editor's Pick

Three Gorges migrants adapt to new homes

By Yang Chunxue and Liu Dawei (Xinhua) 13:25, August 03, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

Xiong Deqing and his wife now regard the village of Mingping as their second hometown, nine years after they moved away from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to make way for a hydropower project.

The couple operate a pigeon farm in Mingping. Every day, Xiong scrubs and dries hundreds of pigeon diapers while his wife Liao Guoxing feeds the pigeons and collects eggs from pigeon houses.

Nine years ago, Xiong and his family moved to Mingping in south China's Guangdong Province to make way for the Three Gorges Project. Along with them went 60 neighbors from 16 families.

Construction on the Three Gorges Project, the world's largest hydropower project, started in 1994 and was completed in 2009.

Xiong and his neighbors are among some 1.1 million people who had to relocate to make way for the project.

Life was not easy at the time, Xiong said, recalling when they first arrived in Mingping.

"It took me a long time to adapt to it," Xiong said.

Soon after he settled down in Mingping, Xiong contracted 30 mu (2 hectares) of land to plant vegetables. However, he suffered a setback after using planting methods that would not work in the region's warm climate.

"I tried to grow cabbage, lettuce and broccoli, but I neglected the local weather factor. My crops were drowned by summer storms and I lost nearly 40,000 yuan (6,452 U.S. dollars) in 2005," Xiong said. "That was a great blow to me."

Other migrants also met new problems after moving.

"I didn't like the food here. We are fond of spicy food in our hometown, while the local food is so bland that I was left with no appetite," 65-year-old villager Zhong Jinrong said.

The newcomers also had language issues, as the Cantonese that is widely used in Guangdong differs dramatically from the migrants' Chongqing dialect.

"I felt lonely and isolated. I had to ask young people to translate for me, even when I bought vegetables at the market," migrant Qu Xingfen complained.

"Every migrant was granted 0.69 mu of cultivated land. But the living costs in Guangdong are much higher than those in Chongqing. It was hard for us to improve our living conditions sheerly by relying on planting," said Xiong Daosheng, Mingping's village head. "At the time, the new villagers came to me almost every day and told me they didn't want to stay here and desired to go back to Chongqing." < However, the hardships did not defeat the migrants. As time went by, with the help of the local government, their efforts to make the village of Mingping their second home became successful.

"The longer I stay here, the more I get used to Cantonese food. I also find the weather is not that unbearable," Xiong Deqing said.

"After years of learning, I can now understand Cantonese. Although I can't speak it, at least I no longer need any interpreters," Qu said.

Zhu Weiying, Mingping's deputy Communist Party of China (CPC) chief, said the village committee has helped young people obtain technical training, encouraged them to find new jobs and helped some of them run their own businesses.

Aided by the committee, Qiao Xiongxin, 40, spent 200,000 yuan in June last year to set up a metal processing company.

"We recently started earning profits of about 10,000 yuan a month," Qiao said.

"Ten young migrants in our village now work in two factories nearby. They earn more than 3,000 yuan each month," Xiong Daosheng said.

Elderly migrants are prone to loneliness, as their children usually live far from home to study or work. Zhu said the village committee began to encourage and help the elderly operate their own farms in 2005.

According to Zhu, 16 families in the village have established their own farms, feeding some 10,000 pigeons and 500 pigs. Their annual income averages 8,000 yuan per person.

Xiong Deqing said he now feels quite comfortable with his life.

"Mingping has become my hometown, just like Chongqing," he said.