Support measures in place for former mountain dwellers in Guizhou, CPPCC National Committee member says

Authorities in mountainous Guizhou province will boost support for people who moved from isolated areas to resettlement sites as part of their efforts to tackle rural poverty, a member of the CPPCC National Committee said on Wednesday.

Detailed measures include bolstering local industry and employment at resettlement sites as part of a broader plan to implement the national rural vitalization strategy, said Hu Guozhen, also a deputy head of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in Guizhou.

Mass relocations were among major programs adopted to fight rural poverty in the province over the past five years, and more than 308,000 people were involved in the program in the prefecture alone, she said at a sideline interview during the annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body.

"Poverty alleviation relocation programs are not just about moving, follow-up measures are needed," she said.

The prefecture government has managed to provide an average of two jobs to each resettled family through "poverty alleviation" factory, rural tourism and welfare jobs, Hu said, adding it also ramped up vocational training for settlers.

Through the training sessions, women who previously had no employment became traditional embroidery and batik craftswomen, earning between 2,000 ($307) and 3,000 yuan – an arrangement allowing them to take care of their family and learn a traditional technique at the same time, she said.

The former mountain dwellers have adapted well to the urban lifestyle, with schools, hospitals, buses and shopping malls at their doorstep, she said.