XIANGFAN, Hubei, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Moving water from the
Yangtze River across half of China to its parched north is a
massive technical undertaking -- but authorities are finding a
greater challenge in resettling the people whose homes are in the
path of the project.
The water will be diverted via three routes: eastern, middle and
western. The middle route alone involves relocating about 330,000
people in central China's Hubei and Henan provinces.
Hubei announced a successful trial relocation of 12,000 migrants
May 24. The trial took nine months.
But with plans to relocate 31,293 people by Aug. 31, signs of
discontent are already leaking through the cracks of a massive
social program to relocate them.
To demonstrate the problems they face, Hubei relocation
authorities Monday outlined their policies to help migrants,
including:
-- A grant of 0.1 hectare (1.6 mu) of land per person compared
with the provincial average of 0.05 hectare.
-- An annual subsidy of 600 yuan (87.84 U.S. dollars) per
household for 20 years.
-- Free vocational training, favorable employment policies and a
pension scheme.
-- Compensation for their fixed assets above-market rates.
-- A free biogas pit to convert human and livestock waste into
methane gas for each household.
SACRIFICES
However, much of the compensation is not as valuable as it
appears, say some migrants.
Relocated migrant Zhang Yonglong is resigned to his fate, but
not happy about it. "We have to make sacrifices for the greater
good," he admitted.
Zhang, who is waiting for his new home to be built, said he
received more than 124,000 yuan (18,155 U.S. dollars) for his
1.4-hectare orange grove and more than 90,000 yuan for his old
building back in his hometown Jiangju village, Danjiangkou
City.
Zhang's 178-square-meter new home in Gucheng County sits in the
center of the county, an hour's drive from his hometown near
Danjiangkou Reservoir.
The cost of Zhang's house was about 630 yuan per square meter,
but it was resold to Zhang at around 520 yuan a meter with a
government subsidy, said a Gucheng government spokesman.
In the old town, Zhang said, his orange grove earned him more
than 50,000 yuan a year, and he could make a living from fishing,
growing traditional medicine herbs and raising livestock.
Now he had 0.1 hectare of flat land that he had no clue how to
plow. Even if he did, it would earn far less than his orange grove.
Local farmers say a plot of its size would normally bring 3,600
yuan a year, 5,000 at most.
"Though the compensation package, which is worth more than
240,000 yuan, is fairly handsome, my income from the orange grove
was stable and lasted for generations," Zhang said.
The oranges produced near the Danjiangkou Reservoir were a
prized export to Japan, Korea and Russia.
It took time for the migrants, who mostly lived on the
mountains, to get accustomed to life and work in their new homes.
The government was working hard to help them get familiar with new
skills and the environment, said Xu Tengfang, the provincial
relocation official.
Some officials and local residents say the migrants are
exaggerating their incomes to bargain for more favorable
polices.
"It's human nature to think of what's lost as the most precious.
It's also human nature to speak for one's own benefit," said Li
Guangxian, a relocation official in Xiangfan, Hubei's second
largest city.
REBUILDING LIVES
But for others, it's not just about money.
Wang Li, 30, and her parents are to be moved from Wudang
Mountain, a world cultural heritage site and sacred Taoist
mountain.
"We love our tranquil life here," Wang said. Her wood-brick
house on lower Wudang Mountain is sheltered by tall trees and faces
a vast stretch of water.
Taoism is part of Wang's life. She visits the Taoist monasteries
and listens to the preaching of monks at least once a week. But she
worries most about her parents who have lived on Wudang Mountain
for decades.
"My parents are so used to living in harmony and unity with
nature, as promoted in Taoist philosophy. I wonder if they can fit
into the worldly environment at the resettlement site."
Provincial authorities Monday insisted they were doing their
best to accommodate the migrants.
"We do not force the people to move; we persuade them by trying
hard to meet their demands and relieve their worries," said Xu
Tengfang, a spokesman for Hubei's relocation authorities.
Xu said the migrants, mostly farmers, generally had better and
bigger homes, more land, better infrastructure and brighter
prospects after relocation.
LEADING THE WAY
Hubei Vice Governor Tian Chengzhong said the provincial
government would help at least one member of each relocated family
to find a job as long as he or she was willing and fit to work.
The families were resettled in more developed areas near cities
or roads with better access to jobs, markets, schools and
hospitals, he said.
In Hubei, about 180,000 people are to be relocated by 2014 when
the water level of Danjiangkou Reservoir and the Hanjiang River,
from which water will be diverted, will rise from 157 meters to 170
meters.
About 80,000 people will have to leave their counties, which
involves more changes in life, work and environment.
"I can promise that the 80,000 migrants, who have to leave their
hometowns, will lead Hubei's 30 million farmers in improving their
incomes, living conditions and long-term well-being," Tian said
"We succeeded in persuading the people to relocate by listening
to their demands. And that makes the relocation humane," Tian
said.
Hubei offered a choice of 519 resettlement sites, enough for
130,000 people, Wang Yuanliang, head of the provincial relocation
bureau said. "In principle, they can live where they choose."
A committee of elected representatives voted for the villagers
in choosing the sites. Their losses from the relocation were also
taken into consideration in arranging the sites, Wang said.
The government invited a member of each family to visit the
sites to check the resettlement conditions before making the
choice. They also had a say in the size and design of the homes, he
said.
The buildings within a site are mostly the same. The designs are
collectively decided by the villagers through a vote. Most of the
houses are one or two-storey buildings.
In a new resettlement site in Gucheng County, the relocated
villagers voted for buildings in a traditional style usually seen
in east China's Anhui Province.
"Villagers, not the government, sign contracts with the
builders. They are the employers who made the final decision. The
government acts as consultant," Wang said.
Members of each family took turns to oversee construction work
in makeshift shelters in the sites. The local government provided
free meals and accommodation.
The quality of the homes was jointly inspected by provincial,
municipal and county authorities. Village representatives were
invited to witness the whole inspection process, Wang said.
NEW NEIGHBORS
However, many of their new neighbors say the government is being
"way too generous", including a 60-year-old local woman farmer
under the alias of Yang Chunhua.
Yang's family of four worked a 0.93-hectare plot before half of
it was transferred to the migrants.
The land, which was leased to state-run Zhangluogang commune,
was purchased back by the local government at the price of 23,000
yuan every 0.1 hectare, Yang Zhiyong, head of Xiangfan's relocation
authorities, said.
"The farmers were not entitled to the payment because they had
no rights on the land."
As employees and retirees of the commune, they were duly paid
salaries and pensions, and their crops were purchased by the
commune at fair prices, local relocation official Li Guangxian
said.
From the 0.93-hectare land, Yang Chunhua's family used to earn
1,400 yuan per month. "With that much land, we still could not
afford our son's college tuition. How can we live with just
0.47-hectare of land?
"The land is life to us, but it's nothing for the migrants."
Yang Chunhua said the migrants, who came in March, did not like
the place and were mostly living elsewhere, leaving the houses and
land idle.
"Less than 10 families have resettled in a community of 41
houses. What a waste."
An official with the Xiangfan municipal relocation department
said the houses were empty because the migrants had gone back to
their old places, which were yet to be submerged, to harvest
oranges and other produce.
Most of the houses had no interior decorations or furniture.
Some migrants bought properties near their hometowns and moved
back, leaving parts of the resettlement empty, Li Guangxian, the
local relocation official said.
Right next to the rows of villa-like empty homes is a two-room
unpainted building haphazardly piled up with bricks on a patch of
uneven black soil -- home to Yang Chunhua and her husband.
"Everyone cares about the migrants, who cares about us?"
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