Rural communities in China benefit from increased standard of living
Wo Zitian, Yunnan Province
1. The Ma family working in the field
2. Close up daughter Ma Xiufen
3. Mother and Daughter
4. Mr Ma Huicheng
5. Mother and Daughter
6. Mrs. Ma's hands picking out weeds
7. SOUNDBITE: (Yunnanhua) Ma Huicheng, Miao villager, Wo Zitian , Yunnan Province
After the land reform, we could harvest 1500 jin (750 kilogrammes) to 1600 jin - this is 10 times more than before. Since then, our living standard has improved.
8. Bunch of corn drying in the sun
9. Ma family walking along the road
10. Local homes
11. Ma family walking
12. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Yuan Guihong, Vice Governor, Qixing Township, Yunnan Province
Our people provide what's needed for building; they can find sand and stone and they can do the work. So, under our economic plan, the government provides funds and we, ourselves, provide materials and their labour.
13. Buildings with pigs
14. Close up of pigs
15. Village chief
16. SOUNDBITE: (Yunnanhua) Lu Youkang, Village Chief, Wo Zitian
We want to train our villagers - let them know more about how to farm better and try to get more advanced technology so as to plant better.
Qixing Township
17. School outside
18. Pupils and teachers (exam in progress)
19. Teachers and pupils
20. Close up of boy
21. Close up of girl
22. Exam paper
23. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Pan Zhengqin, Teacher, Qixing Township Junior School,
Maybe around one third of our students have difficulty. It's difficult. They can come to school because they get assistance from the central government and the school and mainly from the donations of people in society. More than one third !.
Clinic near Wo Zitian
24. Clinic from outside
25. Nurse adding up her bill
26. Abacus
27. Boy in other room
28. AIDS poster
29. Boy and nurse
30. bed in clinic
31. SOUNDBITE: (Yunnanhua) Dai Li, Nurse, Qixing Township
When we need medicine, we will make a list and then phone the drugs company in Kunming. In about three to four days they can supply us.
32. Ma family's new home - the kitchen
33. Various of food preparation
34. SOUNDBITE: (Yunnanhua) Ma Xiufen, Miao villager, Wo Zitian, Yunnan Province
It's hard. I think that working the fields is the most difficult.
35. Mrs Ma walking to the old house
36. Mrs Ma preparing pig swill
37. Mrs Ma carrying buckets out
38. Piglets
39. SOUNDBITE: (Yunnanhua) Ma Huicheng, Miao villager, Wo Zitian , Yunnan Province
In the beginning, I just wanted to build a simple house with a few rooms. But the builder suggested that it's worth building a better one in case I changed my mind a few years later.
40. Mrs Ma checking on pigs
41. Mrs Ma and pigs
LEAD IN:
While the economy booms in China's coastal cities, poverty is widespread in the country's rural heartland.
The central government recognises that the widening economic gap threatens stability - and so poverty alleviation is now a high political priority.
In South West Yunnan Province, the authorities have embarked on a programme to improve the living standards in 4,000 villages - of which the most poverty stricken are home to ethnic minorities like the Miao, who inhabit the mountainous regions of southern China.
STORYLINE:
Mr Ma, his wife, and daughter, tend their 1200 square metre plot on the edge of Wo Zitian village, Xundian County, in China's south-west Yunnan Province - two hours drive from the main city of Kunming
Their village is one of 30,000 in this province that now receives poverty alleviation support which targets the 7.37 million people - six percent of the population - who earn less than US$ 120 per year.
And of these, Yunnan's ethnic minorities, like Mr Ma's people, are among the poorest.
Countrywide, 23.65 million Chinese fall under the austere US$ 120 per year threshold.
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