NANNING, Nov. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Yin Xingrong has ushered in a life of abundance -- the peasant of Mulam nationality is earning 5,000 yuan (about 600 US dollars) a year by planting downy grape.

    The farmland his family leased at the foot of the mountain was drought-ravaged and sterile before they started planting the wild grapes in the late 1990s. The grapes contain less sugar and are ideal for making wine.

    The Yins are not the only Mulam nationals to have shaken off poverty in Luocheng county, the country's only Mulam autonomous county.

    The county was founded in 1984 in the northern part of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and is inhabited by nearly 120,000 Mulam people, more than 80 percent of all the Mulamliving in China.

    Luocheng county was for years one of the poorest regions in China. In 1999, the county government (called on) (Meaning what? forced, granted subsidies, politely asked) the people to plant downy grape, which grows well in the local environment.

    For many peasants, this soon became the key to a better life.

    To date, the local farmers have planted 3,700 hectares of downygrape and their per capita net annual income has (decupled) (This is not a word in my dictionary) to 1,120 yuan (130 US dollars) more than the 1984 level.

    With newly built networks of highways and telecommunication, broadcasting and power supply facilities, the Mulam who had been locked in the remote mountains for generations have enjoyed a better life and enhanced contacts with the outside world.

    In 2003, the county received a record 1.4 billion yuan (170 million US dollars) of investment from domestic and overseas investors in 160 projects.

    The Mulam are an aboriginal people of southern China and the word "Mulam" means "mother" in their local dialect. During the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, the Mulam maintained features of their matriarchal society. Enditem