Relocated residents benefit from fresh start

Tourists visit Dajiuhu National Wetland Park in Shennongjia, Hubei province. Seven years ago, villagers living in the park were relocated to a township 20 kilometers away. (DONG XIAOBIN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

When Lu Deyan was born more than 50 years ago in a remote village in Hubei province, his family lived in a lakeside home amid beautiful scenery.

However, the stunning views in Dajiuhu, which translates as "nine big lakes" and is located in the Shennongjia forestry area, failed to bring local people good fortune. Life was hard and the villagers, including Lu's family, were poor.

Lu toiled many hours, both day and night, as a lumberman, migrant worker and farmer, but struggled to make ends meet. "I worked hard but made little money," he said.

His fortunes finally turned when he saw tourists flocking to the area who were willing to spend money on overnight stays just to watch the sun rise over the lakes.

Sensing an opportunity, Lu opened a homestay in 2010. It was quite a small business, with only a few beds and tables for meals. However, launching it saw the annual income of Lu's family reach 70,000 yuan to 80,000 yuan (US$10,340 to US$11,320)－enough for him to pay for his son and daughter to go to college.

Lu was happy with his new life and thought he had "turned the corner".

However, in 2013, a restoration project was announced, and villagers living in Dajiuhu National Wetland Park in the Shennongjia Nature Reserve were required to relocate to a township 20 kilometers away.

Launched by the Hubei provincial government, the project was aimed at eliminating pollution, minimizing human impact on nature, and ultimately restoring the ecosystem in forests and wetlands.

In the 1960s, development work began in Shennongjia, an important logging area in Central China, but this resulted in environmental problems.

Trees were felled for use as railroad ties. Although a logging ban was introduced in Shennongjia in 2000, which closed timber businesses, it failed to stop environmental damage.

To benefit from higher prices, villagers began planting out-of-season vegetables around the lakes. They dug trenches to drain water from the soil to plant radishes and cabbages, severely damaging the wetland.

Dajiuhu National Wetland Park is a popular tourist attraction. (DONG XIAOBIN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

Since 2010, the number of homestays and restaurants around the lake had grown considerably, with domestic sewage and waste being directly discharged into the wetland.

The Dajiuhu wetland, northwest of Shennongjia, features nine different-sized lakes, which are surrounded by mountains.

In 2006, Dajiuhu became the first national wetland park in Central China, and four years later a provincial nature reserve. In 2013, it was recognized as an important area by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, also known as the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty for the sustainable use of such areas.

Zhang Zhiqi, deputy director of the Shennongjia National Park Science Academy, said, "Wetlands are the 'kidneys of the earth', as they can restore natural functions and are very important for ecosystems.

"But when the villagers dug trenches to make the soil more suitable for farming and to plant their vegetables, they destroyed the wetland environment.

"The homestays also produced a large amount of domestic waste, which was directly discharged into the lakes," Zhang said, adding that it took time to restore the lakeside environment.

"Shennongjia covers 3,253 square kilometers－just 1.7 percent of the total area of Hubei, but it is home to more than 90 percent of the plant species in the province," Zhang said, emphasizing the importance of the area, not just to Hubei, but the whole country.

In 2016, the authorities decided to close businesses in the Dajiuhu National Wetland Park to "return the lakes to nature". A township was built at the foot of the mountains to accommodate tourists and for villagers to run tourism-related businesses, including hotels and restaurants.

Although officials and scientists were aware of the urgent need to relocate residents to protect the lakes and forests, villagers such as Lu Deyan were reluctant to move.

A nighttime scene in Pingqian town, Shennongjia. (DONG XIAOBIN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

Tough decision

"I was born and raised here, as were my father and grandfather," Lu said, explaining the family's close ties to the land.

More important, he had doubts about the future, frequently asking, "What if I cannot earn a living after being relocated?

"I'm stubborn. I had a good life, so why change? I was earning more money than before, so if I moved, would life be better?"

Officials responsible for the relocation campaign visited Lu's home, underlining the importance of environmental protection in an attempt to persuade him to move. However, Lu feared he would fall on hard times again and remained haunted by the prospect of an uncertain future.

Zhang Mingguo, a village official and distant relation of Lu's, who took part in relocation assignment work, said, "At family gatherings, he refused to talk to me, because it was impossible to avoid the subject."

However, after some villagers who agreed to move built hotels in the township and started to make money from them, Lu saw the benefits and began to question his decision to stay put.

Local officials often visited him and he realized the importance of protecting the environment and the need for change.

He spoke to his homestay clients, some of whom persuaded him to move.

"They were widely traveled and had foresight. One client with a degree told me that if I refused to move and continued to run the business, I would fail in the long run," Lu said.

The client told Lu the outside world treasured clean water and a good environment, but if the villagers continued to live by the lakes and discharge domestic waste into the wetland, the lakes and forests would perish and no one would benefit.

Lu finally agreed to move in 2015, two years after the campaign started. He is now proud that he can afford to send his children to college and that his son-in-law is the first graduate student in the village.

By this month, more than 460 families had moved to the township, and the remaining dozen will do so by the end of this year.

Rangers take a break after patrolling the wetland park. (CHEN YONG / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Difficult work

The relocation was not only difficult for villagers, but also for local officials, as Lu was not the sole resident who initially refused to move.

Liu Yong, president of Dajiuhu township people's congress, who led the relocation campaign, said, "Without the forests, their land and the traditional farming life they were familiar with, villagers were fearful about the future.

"Many families were reluctant to make decisions. They waited to see how others were doing and what their neighbors were asking for."

Zhang, the village official, said it was hard to strike a balance between the villagers' demands and the standards set by the authorities.

"Some families asked for an unreasonable amount of compensation, for example 1 million yuan, which was impossible under the relocation standards," Zhang said.

In one such case, he and colleagues knocked on a villager's door every day for two months and spoke to the man's friends and relatives. The family finally agreed to move on the condition that the villager and his wife could work as sanitation workers at the park shuttle transfer center.

To better implement the campaign, the local government set up a working committee to handle the relocation work. The committee comprised villagers with family ties or a strong social network in the local community.

Officials frequently visited villagers to explain the need to protect the environment and to lead sustainable lives, but even the residents' friends and relatives sometimes shut their doors in the bureaucrats' faces.

Negotiations were carried out and compensation was offered. Villagers sold their assets, including their houses and land, to the government.

Professional assessors calculated villagers' assets and drew up a plan for compensation, which was paid by the authorities.

For example, 1 hectare of farmland was valued at 300,000 yuan and 1 hectare of forest at 3,000 yuan. While the State owned land and forests, local farmers had the right to use them for agriculture and to breed livestock.

Families who received less than 300,000 yuan in compensation, could apply for low-interest bank loans.

Zhang Kun, head of Dajiuhu township, said it costs about 300,000 yuan to construct a three-story building in the town."A standard was set for locals to have at least enough money to build a house and start a new life in the tourism business," Zhang added.

A view of one of the lakes in the park. (LUO WANGSHU / CHINA DAILY)

Grateful residents

Zhang Zhiqi, the academy deputy director, and his colleagues have strived to restore the wetland, such as by building dikes to divert water to the lakes.

He said the wetland relies mainly on self-restoration, adding that since the relocation project was launched, the area has benefited from the reduced human presence.

As they walk through the township, Zhang and Liu, the local officials, are often thanked by smiling residents who have been relocated.

Zhang said,"My friends and relatives said they wished they could have moved earlier."

Lu Deyan is among those enjoying the benefits of relocation. Now living 20 km from his old home, he spent a year building a four-story, 21-bedroom hotel and another year completing the interior decoration work. He invested all his savings in the business, which opened in 2017.

"Business in the first year was amazing. I earned 500,000 yuan－way beyond my wildest dreams," Lu said.

Now, he is worried about how to spend so much money.

"I used to travel by bus and slow train to do seasonal jobs for a living, but now I take airplanes and high-speed trains, and have money to spend. I used to live in a shabby house and had no savings. Now, I live in a hotel," he said.

Lu opened savings accounts for both his grandsons and deposits 100,000 yuan in them every year.

"My wife and I have been through very difficult times. I hope my grandsons don't have to toil all their days. They should have a better start and receive more education than their grandfather and grandmother," he said.

Lu travels in his spare time, and during slack periods sometimes closes the hotels and restaurants he now owns.

In 2017, he spent the winter in subtropical Hainan province, a popular vacation destination, and a year later traveled to Jiangxi and Hunan provinces. Last year, he visited the Yangtze River Delta area, including Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province.

He is also considering traveling overseas. He recently applied for a passport and plans to visit a different country each year before retiring in eight years time, when he turns 60.

Meanwhile, Dajiuhu National Wetland Park is attracting tourists.

One visitor surnamed Tian, who declined to give his full name, said during his third trip to the area, "The beauty of the lakes and mountains brings me back," adding that he enjoys seeing nature with his family.

Tian, from Xiaogan, Hubei, drove for about seven hours with his wife, child, parents and parents-in-law to visit the park, where he and his wife lived before the relocation plan was drawn up.

"We could see the lakes as soon as we stepped out of the homestays, which was very convenient," he said, adding that the quality of accommodations in the township is better.

Tian said he understood the relocation plan was necessary to ensure sustainable development, adding that this will guarantee that future generations enjoy stunning views of Shennongjia.

Contact the writers at luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn