The Case Study on China’s Resettlement Poverty Reduction

1.1 Background The resettlement poverty reduction is an important poverty reduction measure in China through voluntary migration to solve the poverty problems of people in areas with extremely bad conditions for survival. Because in China’s high-altitude and cold areas and areas with sand or stone desertification, the environmental situation used to be in severe shortage of water by perennial drought, or unable to use the surface water by severe osmosis, or lack of effective accumulated temperature by the high-altitude, or with grave soil and water erosion and frequent natural disasters in the sloping mountains. The extremely bad natural environment causes a trap of “Environmental Worsening -Poverty-Further Environmental Worsening-More Poverty” and made the areas with no basic human survival conditions. As it is difficult to make progress or of high cost for using the general poverty reduction measures, the resettlement poverty reduction method has become an effective way to alleviate the environmental pressure and improve people’s production and living conditions. China’s resettlement poverty reduction project started from the “San-Xi Areas” (the Hexi corridor area and middle area around Dingxi in Gansu, the Xihaigu area in Ningxia). In 1983, State Council established special institution to allocate special fund for the special agricultural construction in San-Xi areas, being the first regional poverty reduction and development in China’s history. With regard to the extremely bad environment, serious human and land conflicts and bad development condition in some place in the areas of Dingxi and Xihaigu, but the better natural conditions in Hexi area and the irrigation area along Huanghe River where the reserved agricultural resources can be developed through building water conservancy projects, the guideline of “San-Xi” construction was proposed as “depending on water if there is water, depending on land if there is no water,