Five years ago, Hai Guobao's life was difficult, but not because his family did not work hard. Generations of the family had farmed mountainous land in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region. There, summer is arid, yet rainfall is excessive during autumn harvests. Yields were decided virtually by fate, locals say, after they had invested a whole year's worth of labor. "We felt satisfied when we had enough to eat, but drought frequently drew us back to poverty," said Hai, who is in his 60s. Hai's grandchildren did not go to primary school until age 8 because the 8-kilometer round trip to school was too long for younger ones. "We could never change our lives without the Party's migration policies," he said. In May 2012, all eight members of Hai's family moved to Minning township in northern Ningxia as part of the region's plan to relocate 350,000 people out of mountains and valleys in Guyuan. Hai, along with 67 others in his village, spent only 12,800 yuan ($1,925) to build a new house of 54 square meters, excluding a courtyard, thanks to a government subsidy. Soldiers based nearby also helped to move the family's belongings under the Party's command. "I felt so happy to find that my new home is connected to electricity and tap water," Hai said. "The school is only minutes walk away. I'm illiterate, my son is half-literate, but I hope one day my grandchildren can go to college." In the past two decades, more than 60,000 immigrants settled in Minning, which did not exist 20 years ago. President Xi Jinping proposed moving people in villages to the new settlement in 1997 when he made a survey trip to Ningxia as deputy Party chief of Fujian province. He was deeply concerned with the way people were living in Guyuan, and the United Nations also defined the situation as unfit. Minning township is located between the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains, which fend off cold air from Inner Mongolia, and the Yellow River, which is used for irrigation. In July 2016, Xi revisited Ningxia and called for no one to be left behind regardless of geography or ethnic group as the nation strives to comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society by 2020. Xi also visited Hai's home. Hai recalled that Xi went into his kitchen to check his access to water and to lift a pot lid to see what they were having for dinner. Xi also checked whether Hai's kang, a traditional brick bed that can be heated from the bottom, worked well. "I was speechless when seeing him. It was like seeing one of my family members returning after a long period of time," he said. "It was just like a dream." Hai's eldest son now drives agricultural machines for a vineyard nearby and his other son is a construction worker in the town. The family of eight people earns about 80,000 yuan a year. "We don't farm now but we eat better than we used to as farmers," Hai said. According to Minning's government, locals' per capita annual income rose from 500 yuan in 1997 to 10,732 yuan in 2016, surpassing the average for rural residents in the region. The local economy has also benefitted in recent years from investments from Fujian province and other regions to boost industries and promote modern farming techniques. Taking the advantage of abundant sunshine, many rooftops are covered with solar panels and locals are helping to grow high-priced raspberries and wine grapes with the help of the dry climate. A major auto company has also set up a car parts factory to offer more jobs to the migrants. "We will have better development and a better life," Hai said. mental health wristbanddesign your own wristbandcustom made rubber braceletsrubber bracelet makerwristbands onlineyouth wristbands
Xu Zhuo looks after two red-crowned cranes in Zhalong Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang province, in August. She followed the path of her father and aunt, who both died in accidents while doing work to protect the birds. [Liang Dong/Xinhua] Every day, Xu Zhuo opens her diary and writes down the details of the daily work feeding, breeding, inoculating and curing red-crowned cranes - the same work her father and aunt did decades ago. Xu, 25, turned down a postgraduate recommendation from Northeast Forestry University to become a researcher in breeding and protecting red-crowned cranes in Zhalong Nature Reserve, Heilongjiang province, after her university graduation in 2016. The reserve, covering an area of 210,000 hectares, hosts Asia's biggest reed swamp - an ideal crane habitat. Home to 15 varieties of the birds, and with about 300 wild red-crowned cranes, it was listed as an International Important Wetland Protectorate in 1992. In April 2014, Xu's father Xu Jianfeng died in a motorcycle crash. He had been working in the wetland for two days to protect a baby crane and was exhausted as he made the trip back home. The motorcycle ran off the road and into a ditch. At the time, Xu Zhuo was a sophomore studying horticulture at Northeast Agricultural University. The unexpected death of her father changed her original idea of being a horticulturist in a southern city. When I read my father's diary, I was touched by his detailed record of raising red-crowned cranes since 1997, Xu said. After finishing reading all the diaries, I decided to continue the record. Without hesitation, she transferred to Northeast Forestry University to study wildlife conservation. The university is also my aunt's alma mater, she said. I think it is the best way to cherish her memory. Her aunt, Xu Xiujuan, also devoted her life to the protection of red-crowned cranes at the age of 23. A popular Chinese song in 1990s tells the story of Xu Xiujuan falling into the marsh and dying while trying to save a crane in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, in September 1987. Although I have never seen my aunt, I grew up with the song and her story, which guided my life, said Xu Zhuo. As the third generation of my family to protect the red-crowned cranes, I will continue walking that road. Yang Wenbo, director of the Zhalong Nature Reserve administration, said: With the efforts of Xu's family, as well as many protectors like them, we have got effective methods to artificially propagate the species. We have a population of 430 red-crowned cranes and more than 260 other varieties of rare birds inhabiting the wetland.
