A resettlement area in Shanxi province [Photo/sxgov.cn]

North China's Shanxi province relocated 472,000 people to alleviate poverty -- including 362,000 registered poverty-stricken people -- during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), with the total number of individuals moved the ninth largest in the country, according to a news conference held by the provincial authorities on May 12.

The province relocated 3,365 deeply impoverished villages and undertook the demolition of old and dilapidated houses, while the restoration of surrounding greenery was completed. 

A total of 1,122 centralized resettlement areas with 175,000 resettlement houses, covering 10.74 million square meters of floor space, were built in the province over the past five years. 

The resettlement areas were equipped with 1,049 newly built or shared primary schools, 1,044 junior high schools and 1,122 clinics. Infrastructure such as water, electricity, roads, gas and internet networks was installed -- while public service facilities relating to culture and eldercare were established and expanded. These greatly enhanced the residential environment of the relocated people.

In addition, Shanxi has built 413 new industrial parks and 408 poverty alleviation workshops around the resettlement areas over the past five years. 

These have employed 27,000 relocated laborers, trained 165,000 people in vocational skills, and established the service brands Tianzhen Nanny, Lyuliang Caregiver and Taihang Housekeeper -- allowing 55,000 people to work outside Shanxi. 

The photovoltaic projects in the resettlement areas also created 21,000 positions for the relocated labor force. All these measures have greatly boosted incomes and employment of relocated people, especially people suffering from poverty.

Moving forwards, Shanxi will help to make sure the relocated people do not return to poverty and it will promote featured industrial developments in the resettlement areas.

It will undertake training and employment assistance, increase financial institutions' credit inputs for consolidating poverty alleviation achievements, as well as upgrade the management services of the resettlement communities, said Zhang Yuhong, director of the Shanxi Poverty Alleviation and Development Office.