RP174 V. 8 August, 2003 Public Disclosure Authorized

A Report

on the Significance for Poverty Relief by the Programme of Middle Reaches of the Beijiang

Public Disclosure Authorized River Regulation Works and the Programme of the Xiniu Navigation Complex on the L i a n j i a n g R i v e r Public Disclosure Authorized

Public Disclosure Authorized FILE Get Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences

July 20, 2002

Members of This Report

Adviser: Li Minghua President & doctor, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences

Project Manager:

Jia Yunping Associate professor

Members:

2 Li Yan Doctor of geographical economics

Li YangMiao Associate professor of society

Miao Xinghuang Associate professor of society

Yang Changming Doctor of law, professor

Zhang Junzhe Accountant

Ye Miaoqin Statistician

3 CONTENT

1. Survey summary

2. The necessitous villages in the reaches of the programmes

2.1 Poverty criteria and necessitous areas

2.2 Necessitous villages and necessitous population

2.3 Living situation of the necessitous families

3. Reasons for farmers' poverty in the hinterlands of the progrmmes

3.1 The adverse natural environment direcdy causes the farmers' poverty

3.2 Lacking of cultivated land and great surplus of labour force in the counntyside

Declining of township and village economy causes more difficulties to the employment of the

3.3 farmers

3.4 Too many family members and too much burden on the labour force in families

35 Low level of management in family economy

3.6 Little accumulation and firquent return to poverty after getting rid of poverty

3.7 Depression of regional industries; therefore it is impossible to provide more job opportunities for farmers

from the countryside

4. Measures to relieve poverty by local governments

4.1 The poverty relief strategies of local govemments

4 42 Poverty relief measures by township governments

4.3 Evaluation of the poverty relief programme by the governments

5. Results of the programme construction for poverty relief

The progamme construction will stimulate economic growth in the reaches of the Beijiang River

5.1 and directly promote the progress of poverty relief in the necessitous mountainous areas

52 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to making use of the unified traffc system in the

necessitous mountainous areas

5.21 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to developing means of transport while

saving resouwres in the mountainous areas

5.22 Resources in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong Province available for shipping are

comparatively rich

523 Shipping in the mountainous areas can effectively reduce operation costs of the necessitous farmers

5.3 Promnotion of the tourist industry in the mountainous areas by the programme construction

5.31 Results for poverty relief by the tourist industry

5.32 Touist industry in the mountainous areas and job opportunities

5.33 Improvement of the tourism environment in the mountainous areas by the prgramme

construction

Attachment Tourism resources in the reaches of Beijiang River

5.4 The programme construction will promote the construction of small towns in the mountainous areas and

will attract surplus labour force to shift to small towns

5.41 The programme construction will optimize shipping facilities in small towns 5.42 The accumulative effect of logistics in small towns would be reinforced

5.43 More labour force from the countryside will be atMacted and adopted in small towns because of

construction of the programme

5.44 A group of new small towns will arise out of construction of the programrnme

5.5 The programrne construction will promote local consumption and reform the local agricultural planting

structure

5.6 Revenue of the local governments will be increased after completion of the programme construction

6. Fames' and township cadres' opinions about the programmnes and their

significance for development

6.1 Degree of understanding about the programmes and opinions of farners who were involved in the

requisition of land

62 Attitudes of cadres from where the programrm construction is located

7. Conclusion

Appendix I: Interview Syllabus about the Effect of Supporting the Poor

Appendix II: Route of the Survey about the Effect of Supporting the Poor

Appendix m Distribution Map of the Poor Counties in the Project Area within 100 Kilometers

Appendix IV: Form of Citizens' Condition Survey of the Guangdong Component of IWW4

Project

Appendix V: Forms Used in Genaeal Investigation of the Villages to Be Impacted by the Guangdong Component of IWW4 Project

6 1. Survey Summary According to the demands of the Memondum Book on Guangdong Component of Pmposed

IWW4 made by World Bank on March 15, 2002, at the invitation of the project host - the Navigation Channel Bureau of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences conducted a survey of on the significance for poverty elief by the Programne of Middle Reaches of the Beijiang River Regulation Works and the Progranne of Xiniu Navigation Complex on the Lianjiang River Rectification of Navigation Channel in the Middle Reaches of Beijiang River and the Xiniu Shipping Pivot Programne of Lianjiang River within the Guangdong Component of Prposed IWW4. Objects of this survey are the directly benefited areas, ie. the upper and middle reaches of the Beijiang River, - in concrete, Shaoguang City, Qingyuan City and its subsidiary counties, towns and villages. The survey methods are by working out schedule and interview outlines. We mainly took group interviews and did some sampling questionnaires on specific necessitous villages. The survey group visited successively city/county offices, administrations of state land, poverty-relief offices, agricultural departments, etc of Shaoguan City, Lechang City, Qujiang County, Ruyuan County, Qingyuan City, Yingde City, Qigxin County, Yangshan County, Liannan County, Lianshan County, etc and collected a large sum of useful materials. Following are situations of this survey:

2. The necessitous villages in the reaches of the projects 2.1 Poverty cfiteria and necessitous areas According to the statistics by the Poverty Relief Office of Guangdong Provincial Government, at present there are 16 necessitous counties in Guangdong Province that are in special need of help for their development In these necessitous counties, the net annual income of quite a part of the population in the countryside is less than 1,500 yuan per capita The families whose net annual net incomne per capita is less than 1,000 yuan are called specially underprivileged families. Those whose annual net income is less than 2,000 yuan still need help to get rid of poverty. The total poverty-stricken population in the province is over 5,000,000. They are rnainly in Shaoguan City, Qingyuan City, Heyuan City and Meizhou City. Quite a lot are in Shaoguan City and Qingyuan City (the north reaches of Beijiang River). Arnng the 16 necessitous counties, 4 are in Qingyuan City, i.e. Liannan, Lianshan, Yangshan, Qingxin; 2 are in Shanguan, i.e. Ruyuan, Xinfeng. The necessitous counties of the two cities amount to 375% of the total necessitous counties in Guangdong Province. In the year 2000 the GDP of Guangdong Povince was 12,885 yuan per capita The GDP of Shaoguan City per capita was about 50.7% of the average of the province, while that of Qingyuan City was 31%. That of the counties in Qingyuan City was even less. For example, the GDP per capita of Liannan County in the upper reaches of Lianjiang River was only 2,732 yuan, while that of Yangshan County was 3,298 yuan. They were respectively 21% and 25% of the average of the province.

22 Necessitous villages and necessitous population According to the statistics of Shaoguan City dated October, 2001, the poverty-stricken families ( net annual

8 income less than 2,000 yuan per capita) in the year 2000 were 118230 with a population of 545,295. Among which the number of necessitous families with net annual income per capita less than 1,500 yuan was 81,611 with a population of 371,922. These families and population amounted respectively to 18% of the total families and 18.6% of the total population in the countryside. There were totaly 43 underpfivileged towns in this city, amounting to 30%Yo of the total towns. There were 396 necessitous vilages, amounting to 31% of the total villages in the whole city. They were mainly in the limestone areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River, the minority nationality regions, remote mountainous areas and migration areas, etc. The numbers of poverty-stricken population and necessitous families of Qingyuan City were about the same as that of Shaoguan City. In 7 towns (Yunlin, Qinkeng, Boluo, Jiulong, Shihuipu, Yanbei and Mingjing. 5 are in the limestone areas) in the close areas of the Lianjiang River in Ymngde, there were already 31 necessitous villages. Among which there were 21,267 necessitous families in the 5 limestone towns with a population of 121,000. In the necessitous vilages and towns, needy families and needy population usuaDly amounted to 30%o of the total. For example, in Ruyuan County, there were 1,720 families in Dongping Town while 599 were needy families. In Daqiao Town, there were totally 4,494 families, but there were 1,484 needy families. In Yunyan Town there were totaDly 2,705 families and needy families were 897. In these 3 towns, the needy families amounted to 35%, 34% and 33% of the total families respectively. We can see that poverty is by no means of occasional cases. It is very common in the limestone areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River.

Table 1. Dislbution of PovertyStricken Population by Governmntal Stisics

\Item <1, 500 yuan <800 yuan 2801_1,000 yuan 21,001_1,500 yan Famnuies Popuion Families FamilCs Famirues Popuhwon FamiiCes Pqpulmaion

Shaoguan 81600 371922 32514 148457 23582 107388 25504 116077 Ruyuan 9735 45579 4915 23063 2891 13644 1926 8872 Lechang 16267 77027 6887 32901 4844 22822 4536 21304 Renhua 5243 24078 1633 7315 1543 7187 2067 9567 Nanxiong 9576 40716 3341 14342 3123 13193 3112 13181 Wengyuan 13038 59022 3060 13753 3669 16595 6309 28674 Xinfeng 9912 44943 4430 19980 2921 13316 2561 11647 Shixing 8840 39920 4278 18994 2568 11753 1994 9173 Qujiang 8182 36894 3504 15967 1917 8374 2761 12553 Qingyuan 45322 214758 5895 25279 18455 91123 20975 98356 Lianshan 5395 25869 903 4292 1250 5608 3242 15966 Liannan 5704 25061 870 3610 1204 5346 3630 16105 lianzhou 4539 21995 728 3576 1217 6049 2594 12370

9 Yangshan 8617 40500 861 4050 3446 16200 4310 20254 Qingxin 7094 33896 665 3276 1489 7366 4950 23254 Yingde 12773 62769 1629 5649 9439 48910 1705 8210 Fogang 315 1340 97 370 130 524 88 446

2.3 living situation of the necessitous families On the whole, living standards of the villagers in the upper and middle reaches of the Beijiang River are very low. Living standards of the residents are in a trend of ladder-shaped declining along the valley of the Beijiang River, from the low hills to the high mountainous areas. In the hinterlands of the mountainous areas, because of the very inconvenient traffic and adverse natural environment, the living standards of the residents there are the lowest in the province. A sampling survey of 6 farmer families conducted in Xinfeng County and Wengyuan County by the Poverty Relief Office of Shaoguan City can prove this. There are 36 members in the 6 families with 13 able-bodied persons. In 2000, their net annual income was 1457 yuan per capita The cash income was 777 yuan per capita. The service income was 408 yuan per capitaThe 6 families had 256 m' of brick houses, i.e. 7.1 m' per capita. Their fixed assets (real estate not included ) were only worth 4,440 yuan. Some of them even did not have any piece of durable goods of over 100 yuan. The expenditure of the 6 families of the previous year was: taxes: 1,502 yuan, 42 yuan per capita; education expense: 9,400 yuan, 261 yuan per capita; electricity bill: 888 yuan, 25 yuan per capita, medical expenses: 2,350 yuan, 65 yuan per capita In the limestone areas of the hinterlands where the programme construction is located, the net annual income per capita of some villages was less than 500 yuan, even less than that of the needy farmers in the westem regions of China (1,lllyuan). The housing conditions of the farmers in the mountainous areas are also vey poor. In Shijiaotang Village, Hongxing Vilage and Woli Vlllage that we visited this time, about 70% of the farmers live in mud-brick houses. The houses are very low, badly lit and badly ventilated. Some faimers even share the houses with their livestock The livestock lives at the ground floor while the family live at the mezzanine. It is very inconvenient for them to use water and electricity. It is a very long way away to go to school and to see the doctDr. Though the local govemrnmental has invested quite a lot of money for poverty relief that has made poverty decrease a bit, it has not yet been eliminated thoroughly. In towns and villages along the Beijiang River, as the traffic is convenient, poverty is not so much common. The income and expenses of the villagers are both more than that of the villagers in the hinterlands of the programme construction.

3. Reasons for famrmfs' poverty in the hinterlands of the programmes By interviews of the villagers, investigators find that the main reasons for poverty of the villages in the reaches of Beijiang River include:

10 3.1 The adverse natural environment direcdy causes the farmers' poverty The basic characteristics of the necessitous areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River are: separation by high mountamins, no roads, mnany rocks, lack of water, scattered pieces of cultivated land. In Shaoguan area, there are 14 linestone towns with a population of 200,000. In the 56 old liberated towns, traffic is very inconvenient, lacking of information, with a population of 870,000. There are about 30,000 people of rnirty nationalities inDayao Mountain. In most of this area there is no road or tap water. According to the infomiation provided by the Poverty Relief Office of Shaoguan City, there are no roads open for motor vehicles to reach most of the villages in the above area Farmers have to carry their agricultural products on the back or on the shoulders if they want to sell them. In Xinfeng County the highways leading to 70 villages in the old liberated area are made of yellow mud and sand by tractors. The 70 villages of such are 81% of all the villages in the county. In 26 of these villages, all roads can not be used when it rains. In Ymgde City where the Xiniu Shipping Pivot Programme is located, there are 378 villages. Tap water is only available in 144 villages, while there is not any in the other 234. In this area there is not any tap water available in 4 towns because they are in the high mountains. The poor, natural conditions directly affect the local economic development and cause the situation that many needy farmer families can not get nd of poverty.

32 Seriously lacking of cultivated land and great surplus of labour force in the countryside Judging from the present production capability of grains and level of production in coastal provinces like Guangdong and Jiangsu, the labour needed for production of grain has decreased by 78%.The work tire needed are less than 152 hours. In some towns and villages, as high as 95% of the labour force is in surplus. For example, In Ymgde City there is 788,500 mu of cultivated land. The labour force in the countryside of the city includes 349,662 people. If each able-bodied person can take care of 10 mu of land, then only about 80,000 people are needed. There is a labour surplus of 269,000 people, over 77% of the total. On the one hand, there is a great surplus of labour force. On the other hand, there is not enough cultivated land in the limestone areas in the north of Guangdong. Water conservancy facilities are not ensured. Therefore daily needs of the villagers can not be satisfied by cultivation at all. Let us take Daqiao Town as an example. It is a limestone town in the north of Guangdong with a population of 24,383. There is only 159,40 mu of dry land and irrigated field. Among which there is only 10,510 mu of sure-harvest land despite of flood or drought There is less than 05 mu of land per capita What is worse is that most of the cultivated lard is that full of scattered-stones ( in unevenly distributed limestone ). More than 60%1o of the land is of low production. The area is typically of many mountains and few trees. The land is barren, of a lot of stones and little mud. It is the same case in Ymgde City. In the visited Xinchen Village and Zhangwu Village, there is 89 mu and 210 mu of cultivated land respectively there. But the sure-harvest land is respectively 24 mu and 80 mu, which is respectively 27% and 38% of the total cultivated laid As the cultivated laid is poor, the output is little. In Ymgde City the average rice harvest of inigated field is 383 kg, less than 50%o of that in the Pearl River Delta. In the investigation we found that families planting only one kind crop were usually needy families. If a family did not have a member engaged in nonagricultural productiorn, the family vould not have regular cash income. This proves that in the north mountainous areas of Guangdong, many farmer families were not able to get rid of poverty only on the benefits of the land. Many of the interviewed

tI farmer families are of this kind. Being short of cultivated land and not able to depend on planting single crop to help support the family, a lot of people in the villages have to leave the countryside and their home for a long tire to find jobs in the economnically developed southern towns and cities of the province. Totaly 63987 people of Ylnde City were employed in other places. That was 18% of the total labour force of all the towns and villages in Yngde. 26% of the labour force of Dawan Town, a veiy poor town of Ymngde left their hometown to make a living. Even in Xilian Village, where the

Lianjiang River Shipping Pivot programme construction is located, 890 people - 32% of the total labour force, were employed outside their hometown.. In the sampling interview this time, 6 farmer families in Zhangwu Vlllage had II grown-up sons and daughters who were all working in Shenzhen and Dongguan. The several mu of agricultural land was taken care of by the old. The daily cash expenditure of all the 6 families relied on the wages of the sons and daughters working outside their hometown. We can understand what a kind of relationship it is between the young labour force and the existing cultivated land.

3.3 Declining of township and village economy causes more difficulties to the employment of the farmers 3.31 The township and village enterprises are small Restricted by the operational conditions, the number of township and village enterprises in the necessitous north areas of Guangdong is little. The enterprises are small. It is very difficult for the them to attract the surplus labour force of the local needy families and to increase their nonagricultural income. By December 31,2000 there were totally 61,818 township and village enterprises in Qingyuan City, with a total 22,2303 employees and an annual turnver of 718,363 yuan. Compared with 1995, the number of enterprises decreased 219,000, with an increasing rate of - 26.2%.The number of employees also decreased 54,400, with an increasing rate of - 19.7%. On the average there were only 3.6 employees in each enterprise, with an annual turover of about 116,000 yuan. In Shaoguan, there were totally 119,601 township and village enterprises, with a total of 361,820 employees. On the average there were only 3 employees in each enterprise, with an annual turnover of 147,000 yuan. We found by the investigation there was not any township and village enterprise in some remote towns and villages. There were only a few small ones in some towns and villages with only 1-3 employees in each. Their monthly salary was 150-450 yuan. Sometimes they even could not get pay the employees, nor could they pay taxes to the local governments. In the Pearl River Delta, the income of most families from planting crops amounts to less than 20% of their total income. The rest 80%o is from the nonagricultural businesses. However, in the mountainous areas of north Guangdong, the ratio of family income from nonagricultual industries was much less.

3.32 Declining of township ard village economy Not only that The township and village enterprises in the north of Guangdong are in decline. Investigation proves that the low-level township and village enterprises in these areas have made much environmental pollution, causing the environment in the countryside to become worse. At the same time it is difficult for the small town and village enterprises to get a loan because they lack necessary hostages. This has seriously hindered part of the enterprises in their development. Job opportunities thus can not be created for the villagers. There used to be

12 several tens of smaDl coal mines in the adjacent areas along the Lianjiang River, pioviding thousands of job opportunities for Towns Cike Lianjiangkou, Lixi, etc. Consequently mnany private ship-owners, truck drivers, small wharf owners, pile grounds and smal service companies appeared. In recent years, most of the smal coal mines and other mines were closed out of safety and environmental protection reasons. Therefore service industries declined rapidly. Workers lost theirjobs and had to manage to make their own living. The more than 20 workers of Lianjiangkou Port Office have not got any pay in the past several months this year. Some women workers then opened groceries near the port to earn a lving. Even the situation of the workers is lke this. It is more difficult for the farmers to increase their family income when the township. and vilage enterprises are forced out of the market The revenue of the towrnship governments is lttle because the township and village enterprises are not wel developed. In the 100 top towns and villages with the largest revenue of the whole province, not any one of the 50 mountainous counties including that in the upper and middle reaches of the Beijiang River and that in the reaches of the Lianjiang River of the was listed.

Table 2. A Comparison of Townsip and Vilage Enterprises in Counties of the Middle and Upper Reaches Of the Beijiang River and that in Nanhai City and Shunde City

Cotnty/ Enmpise By By Totl In town Invillage Enmpoyees/eniapnse City/ town village moye enstp-ise entapise Dsuict Shaoguan 119601 1568 6049 361820 38447 39085 3.025225542 Subub Nanxiong 20084 302 2098 61829 6322 8077 3.078520215 Shixing 12340 116 414 33650 1966 2335 2.726904376 Wengunn 15196 199 1692 46359 5988 8356 3.050737036 Renhua 12304 91 296 33968 3183 39085 2.76.728218 Xinfeng 7509 161 275 19880 1979 1335 2.647489679 Qujiang 19839 368 674 76492 8663 8996 3.855637885 Ruyuan 7132 59 167 20437 2365 1022 2.865535614 Lechang 8431 140 200 51005 6854 1228 6.049697545

Qingyuan 61818 959 2953 222303 40659 13458 3.596088518 Qingcheng 10100 97 191 43975 10676 1559 4353960396 Feilai Goge 1686 30 210 8410 1693 796 4.988137604 Yngde 11946 136 431 42047 5311 2523 3519755567 Fogang 4074 82 322 13245 2574 1877 3.251104566 lianshan 2242 76 38 4731 1108 171 2.110169492 liannan 3289 55 94 8164 961 558 2.482213439 Lianzhou 12516 188 1030 44928 7258 2921 3589645254

13 Yanghrn 6246 129 134 16604 3370 640 2.658341338 Qinguin 9719 162 503 40199 7708 2413 4.136125116

Nanhai 36560 172 370 473340 19547 47725 IZ94693654 Shurde 6962 303 6659 335823 124818 211005 48.23656995

3.4 Too many family members and too much burden on the labour force in families Some families have too many members but not many able-bodied persons. They have to pay medical expenses for the old. The children's educations fees are relatively high. That would make it difficult for them to get rid of poverty. For example, in Sanlian Village, the Zhao Anfu family has 7 members including young and old ones, but only one able-bodied person. They plough 2.1 mu of land. They can only go out to get a job only when they have time. The annual income of the farnily was only 7,000 yuan, less than 1,000 yuan per capita. The monthly expenses were: 300 yuan on food; 70 yuan for daily use, electricity and water bills, 100 yuan on life service; 100 yuan on the children's education. It was very often that at the end of each year, they did not have any deposit. They would be in economic difficulty whenever they had any other expenses such as sending others gifts. It is very often the case that families like this would fall into poverty. In the interviewed necessitous fanmilies, some belong to this kind. 35 Low level of management in farmers' family economy Because the agriculturl technology is not well popularized and the farnmrs' education level is low, it is difficult to improve the level of family planting.

According to the investigation and research by Chen Xu from the Planning Commission of Guangdong Province, because the various kinds of agricultual stations in the necessitous mountainous counties are short of fund, necessary equipment is not available, and that staff is not provided enough, most of them are not well operated. Most of the agricultural technology stations do not have their sites. There is no place for them to give training to the farmers or to provide consultations. About 80%7o of them even do not have an office. By investigation we find that usually the agricultral stations at the countryside level do not have special fund to popularize technologies. Generally speaking only 50%o-60 of their staffs salary can be provided. Some stations even can afford only 20o. The rest must be raised by the popularization departments themselves. On the other hand, the quality of the labour force in the countryside is very low-only less than 13% of them received education of senior high school; Less than 14% ever received training on agricultural technology. The ratio in the hinteflands of the mountaimus areas in the reaches of the Beijiang River was even lower. Because of their poverty, the farmers were unable to raise enough money to improve their quality and to learn to use new agricultural technologies. They were cut-off information, and their operation was in low-level cycle.

3.6 Little accumulation and fiequent rturn to poverty after getting rid of poverty Some families would become necessitous when major accidents happen to therm For instance, natral disasters, death of important family member, illness, deformity, or even devoice would often make them become needy. For example, the most serious frost ever in 50 years that happened in December 1999 in

14 Guangdong Province caused heavy loss to the crops to be harvested the next spring. A total of 1,100,000 hectares of crops were affected in the province. Direct economic loss amounted to 110,000,000,000 yuan. The mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong were the most serious disaster areas. Almost all unseasonal vegetable planted by farmers in counties like Ymgde, Lianan, yangshan, Ruyuan.etc got not any harvest Many farmers that had got rid of poverty were unable to pay off the loan because they had not any income resource. As the fanmer families in the mountainous areas did not have much deposit, ability of those who had just settled the problem of foods and clothes to protect them from natural disasters is very limited. Once any natural or man-made calamity happens, they will easily become needy again. That is the reason that some necessitous farmer families are still unable to get rid of poverty even though the local government has helped them many times.

3.7 Depression of regional industries; therefore it is impossible to provide more job opportunities for farmers from the countryside The industrial and commercial businesses in the important cities along the Beijiang River are already on the edge of transit to market economy. The operational costs of many old state-owned enterprises are high, but the benefits are low. According to the investigation by the Planning Commission of Shaoguan City, most of the state-owned enterprises are in a state of loss. It is very difficult for them to adopt more surplus labour force from the countryside and assist them to get rid of poverty. The regional industrial strcture in Shaoguan City has not yet been much changed even after 20 years of opening and reform. The top inidustries with the largest turnovers include: metallurgy, electricity, machinery, textiles, tobacco, food service and building materials. These industries are traditional ores, mainly relying on consumption of resources. There has not yet been a transit of all industrial enterprises to industries of high added value. A general survey conducted by the Planning Commission of Shaoguan City of the 1,163 kinds of main industrial production facilites proved that out of the installed and in-operation facilities, 46.7% were manufactured in the 90's, 402% in the 80's and 13. 1%in the 70's. Among which 30.4% were imported. As the designed production capacity is greater than that of the pracical, quite a part of the enterprises are too big. They are of low benefits, in great debt and unable to pay off the debt This has let some enterprises engaged in fields like coal, cotton spinning, rosin, plywood and chemical fertilizer that used to employ a lot of labour force from the countryside in a status of serious debt Quite a lot of staffs lost their jobs. These enterprises can not provide assistance to help the needy farmers in the mountainous areas to get rid of poverty at all. The statistics calculated by the city shows that in 1978 the total value of industry output of Shaoguan City amounted to 6% of that of the province. In 1996 it went down to only 1.4%. We can conclude that the decline of the industry in a region reflects on the one hand the depression of enterprises. Actually, most of the enterprises can not accept the local surplus labour force of the countryside, at the same time more workers in the cities will lose their jobs. In 2001 the Shaoguan Municipal Goveranent stated that the off-post workers were 25,004, about 6% of the total. If that of other kinds were calculated, it would probably be doubled. As for Oigyuan area, there used to be no industrial basis there. It is basically an agricultural area, their social employment conditions are much worse that that of Shaoguan. lible 3.

15 A Conmigon of GDPPer Capita in 2000 of Countes in Shaoguan, Qingyuan and That of Nanhai and Shunde Unit Yuan County Absolute County Absolute County Absolute number number number Shaoguan City Qingyuan Nanhai City 31076 Surburbs 15819 Qingcheng 7081 Shunde City 30995 Nanxiong 7441 Feilai Gorge Shixing 4757 Yingde 3566 Wengyuan 4115 Fogang 3909 Renhua 3823 Lianshan 3652 Xinfeng 4019 Liannan 2735 Qujiang 5788 Lianzhou 3821 Ruyuan 4448 Yangshan 3298 Lechang 3803 Qingxin 3456

4. Measures to relieve poverty by local governments 4.1 The poverty relief strategies of local governments From 1998 the Guangdong Provincial Government reinforced the work of poverty-relief in 16 necessitous counties. The strategies have been changed a bit, from the support of afforestation, planting of fruit trees and development of mountainous land in the mountainous areas to the comprehensive management of mountains, water, farmland, woods and roads in order to improve the production conditions and developing the advantages of resources in the mountainous areas; from the poverty-relief by executive measure to the combination of executive and economic ways; fiom the sole reliance on the government to the combination of governmental support and leading agricultural enteaprises. In order to promote the work of poverty-relief in the mountainous areas, the Guangdong Provincial Govemment issued The Essentials of Poverty-Relief in the Countryside during the 10 Five Year Plan Period and made clear the purposes, steps and strategies of development for poverty relief. In 2001 Shaoguan City, Qingyuan City and their subsidiary necessitous counties all worked out their local development plans for poverty relief during the 10h Five Year Plan Period (2001-2005).

4.2 Poverty relief measues by township govemrnments -Organizing surplus labour force to move out to widen channels of income. All villages regard it an important work to send labour force out In 2001 Daqiao Village moved out labour force of 233 people. Hongxing Village did 361 while Wuzhong Village did 381. There are 130 families in Chushuiyan Village, they sent out 102 people. In Yunyan Vlllage they have 533 families, they sent out 210 people. The sent-out labour force plays a critical role in changing the economic situation of their families. -Opering up wasteland, changing it to be faniland; impoving low-production stony land; reinforcing the inigation works. The concrete purpose was: combination of opening up wasteland and improving of inigation

16 works to ensure that each farmer have 0.5 mu of sure-harvest cultivated land despite of flood or drought to settle the problem of food. In Kaifeng Administrative Section of Yunyan Town, 951 necessitous farmers who were shot of farmland got assistance. In Yunyan Village 198 people were helped. In Chushuiyan Village 101 people were aided. Though the problem of poverty can not be settled thoroughly by opening up wasteland, it is advantageous to the stabilization of economy for the poor families in the countryside. -Reforming agricultural structure; taking businesses of planting and raising as the focal points of development Methods are: agricultural departments, scientific and technological departments cooperate with colleges and scientific institutions to introduce suitable items of planting and raising with the characteristics of the social environment and population in the necessitous areas under consideration. At the same time to give relevant training and guidance to the famlers, helping them find a way to get rid of poverty and become rich. For example, Changtang VllUage and Simnaping Vllage, etc. have helped over 120 needy people in this way. The large-area bases of white mulbery, fiber jute, Chinese chestnut and unseasonal vegetables located in Yingde, Yangshan, Ruyuan and Lechang have been built up this way. -Populanzing technology and culture to improve quality of the population.

4.3 Evaluation of the povery relief programme by the govemments The poverty relief programme by the government has achieved some effects which are as following:

- Needy population in the mountainous areas has decreased and the income of the farmers has increased. The needy population in the mountainous areas has dropped to the current a bit over 5,000,000 from the over 7,000,000 in the 90's of last century. By reinforcing the inigation works and improving the low-production farmnland, part of the farmers have got 05 mu of sure-harvest cultivated land. By means of sending out labour force and supporting the leading agricultural enterprises, part of the farmers have got rid of poverty through nonagricultural employment.

- The basic facilities and living conditions in the mountainous have been improved to some extent. The road net in the north of Guangdong has basically been formed. The reform and widening of National Highways 105, 106, 107, the Class I Qingyuar-ianzhou Road and the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway have made the taffic convenient for a group of villages. Water and electricity supply and other services for many of the needy population have been improved apparenly. The education for children in the necessitous areas is better guaranteed. However, there are some unsatisfactory aspects of the development progammne of poverty relief mainly guided by the goverment The execution of this programme relies on the govemment to a great extent People in the necessitous areas are not much interested in participation. The development strategy made by the govemment is easily divorced from reality and results in blindness in action. Dependence on the govemrnment is characteized by the fact that the fund invested in poverty relief is provided basically by the government A financing system has not yet been set up to collect funds from themarket or from the nongovemmental channels. This has caused shortage of fund for poverty relief; therefore it will be very difficult for local govenments to wipe out poverty thoroughly in the mountainous aras.

17 5. The results of the programme construction for poverty relief 5.1 The programme construction will stimulate economic growth in the reaches of the Beijiang River and promote direcily the progress of poverty relief in the mountainous areas According to the experience of anti-poverty in China in the past ten years, decrease or elimination of poverty depends mainly on regional economic growth. In the Monitornng Report of Povert of the Countyside of Chba the General Team of Investigation on the Rural Society and Economy under the State Statistical Bureau pointed out that in China the coefficient of elasticity between decrease of needy population and economic growth during the90's was - 0.8, i.e. ifGDPireasedby 1%, theneedypopulation intherural areas wvoulddecreaseby0.8. In provinces of relatively higher speed of GDP growth per capita, the speed of decreasing of needy population was higher than that of provinces of lower speed of GDP growth per capita. The speeds of social and economic growth in the east and in the west of China were different, therefore the speeds of elimination of poverty were also different.

TIble 4. Economic Growth and Changes of Occunmce Pwportions of Poverty in the RuralAreas Growth rate of GDP Changes of occurrence GDP per capita Occurrence proportion per capita (%) proportion of poverty in rural (yuan) of poverty in rural areas (%) areas (o) 1991-1996 1991-1996 1991 1991 East 15.9 - 31.1 1938 7.7

Central 14.1 - 24.1 1639 10.3 North 12.1 - 19.3 2089 13.4 Southwest 10.8 - 45 1103 132 Northeast 10.6 - 12.4 2216 9.1

Northwest 8.7 - 12 1412 19.8

(Sources: Developmentand Becomiig Rich: Special Collection of Document- 2000 Intera- tional Seminar on the Poverty Relief Strategy of China in Early 21 Century. Poverty-Relief Development Leding Group of the State Council) Therefore, the Guangdong Con iponent of Pmposed IWW4 construction will also actively quicken the progress to get rid of poverty for the necessitous mountainous areas when it promotes the regional macroeconomic growth. The programme construction is one aspect of enforcement of the state's active finarEial policies. The programme construction will start the market demands in the reaches of the Beijiang River and push forward the social and economic development in the mountainous areas. It wiUl also increase diectly the demands of labour force and promote the use efficiency of the surplus labour force from the necessitous areas.

18 52 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to making use of the unified traffic system in the necessitous mountainous areas 521 Rectification of navigation channel is advantageous to developing means of transport while saving resources in the mountainous areas 7he Comprehensive TransportSystem in the I1ff Five- Year Planperiod of Guangdong Province decided to strengthen the constuction of traffic facilities in mountainous areas and necessitous regions for the purpose of poverty relief and to increase the subsidies for traffic constmction in these areas, especially to support with great efforts the development of water trnsport industry so as to give play to the advantages of water resources. Shipping is a kind of resoura-saving means of transport in nature. Developing shipping industry in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong is advantageous to combination of aDlof the local means of transport and to developing the advantages of the comprehensive logistic system and thus can promote the complementarity and coordination of all means of trasport.

522 Resources in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong Province available for shipping are comparatively rich Along the reaches of Beijiang River (including Lianjiang River and other tributaries) there are a lot of mineral resources and agricultural products to be conveyed by shipping. For example, in the area of Qingyuan there are totaDly reserves of 65,000,000 tons of porcelain clay, 637,000,000 tons of lime stones. The industrial reserves of minerals are 10,000,000,000 tons. There are over 60 kinds of minerals. Shaoguan is a very famous hometown of nonfenous metals in China The reserves of ascertained minerals are of 88 kinds in about 2000 places. 10 of the places are large ones. The reserves of minerals that are listed in top of the province include: lead, zinc, copper, tungsten, cement limestone, troilite, iron, fluorite, refractory clay, etc. It is calculated that the total potential value of the solid minerals is over 300,000,000,000 yuan. In 2001 the reserves of live wood reserves in 3 3 Shaoguan and Qingyuan were respectively 59,350,000 m and 48,010,000 m .Besides that a lot of low-valued farm and sideline products and materials for agricultural production can by conveyed by shipping tansport Part of the industrial materials such as agncultural chemicals, chemical fertilizers and finished products such as household electric appliances, daily general goods, etc from Hongkong, Macao and the Pearl River Delta can also be conveyed by Beijiang River to the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong. The shipping agency of Guangdong estimated that in 2005 the volume of freight conveyed by Beijiang River would reach 5,130,000 tons. It would reach 6,550,000 tons in 2010 and 9,990,000 tons in 2020. After the completion of Xiniu Navigation Complex on the Lianjiang River, the annual volunme of freight by Lianjiang River would go up to 2,001,000 tons in 2015 firom the 1,262,100 tons in 2000. Therefore the programme construction wiDl play a very important role as a thoroughfare in transporting materials for the necessitous mountainous areas in reaches of Beijiang River to help promote the market trading in the mountainous areas.

523 Shipping in the mountainous areas can effectively reduce the operation costs of the necessitous farmers To develop the shipping in the mountainous areas is very advantageous to reducing the opemtion costs of the necessitous fanmers. Though there are a trunk railway (Beijing-Guangzhou) and important tmnk highways

19 (# 105, #106, #107 national ways and the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway under construction ) going through the whole mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong, it is obviously the most economic way to transport low-valued minerals and agricultural products via Beijiang River and its tnibutaries. Researches of the traffic departments showed that the cost by water transport was 1m2-3/5 lower than that by railway. It was only 1/19- 1/24 of that by highway. Besides, the ports and wharfs along Beiiang River and its tributaies, i.e. Lianjiang River, Wujiang River, Zhenjiang River and Nanshui River are quite simple. The ports and wharfs at township and village levels basically take use of the natual bank slopes where loading and unloading are al finished by manpower. The cost for construction of ports and wharfs will be veiy low. Water transport will make it more convenient for towns and villages in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong to have economic contacts with towns and viDlages in the Pearl River Delta where the network of rivers is very dense, thus foming a door-to-door advantageous shipping situation as that of highways.

5.3 Promotion of the tourism industry in the mountainous areas by the programme construction The construction of navigation channel wiDl directy promote tourism industry in the necessitous mountainous areas. By developing tourism industry, job opportunities will be increased for farmers in the mountainous areas; the level of social and economic development will be improved.

5.31 The results for poverty relief by the tourist industry Developing the tourist industry has a very obvious function of poverty relief. According the people from the tourist fields of Shaoguan and Qingyuan, tourist industry has a very strong multiplier effect. Take the sightseeing agriculture as an example. It can change the only roles as production that traditional agriculture plays. It combines together production, exchange and consumption. If the tourist industy earns one yuan, the overall social economic benefits wiDl be 6-7 yuan in the region.

5.32 Tourist industry in the mountainous areas and job opportunities Tourist industry in the mountainous areas wil directly increase job opportunities. Besides promoting the development of agriculture, tourist industry will stimulate development of relevant industries such as traffic, transport, food service, post & telecommunications, commerce, tourism souvenir, etc. It is not only beneficial to relief of poverty for the necessitous mountainous areas, but will also change the large sum of surplus labour force into nonagricultural job-holders. According to the multiplier effect we can predict that each job opportunity created by the tourist industry wil consequently produce 3 indirect job opportunities. Suppose 5,0OD direct job opportunities are created in the hintalands of the reaches of Beijiang River and that of its tributaries, then there will be 15,000 indirectjob opportunities.

5.33 Improvement of the tourism environment in the mountainous areas by the programme construction According to officials of the regional tourist departments, the tourism income of Shaoguan was 1009,000,000 yuan in 2000. Of which 980,000,000 yuan was from domestic tourism; 29,000,000 yuan was foreign currency That of Qingyuan was 544,000,000 yuan; of which 475,000,000 yuan was from domestic

20 tourism; 69,000,000 yuan was foreign curency. Touism income of both cities was increased a lot compared with that of the previous year. Tourist industry has played a veiy important role in promoting regional economic growth. Developing tourism in the mountainous areas will direcdy change the situation of dependence simply on the financial support by the govemnent improve the self-development ability of the necessitous areas to get rid of poverty thoroughly and become rich. Therefore, Qingyuan City, Shaoguan City and their subsidiary counties all have worked out local plans to develop tourism during the 1012Five Year Plan Period. Constmction of the navigation channel will directly promote development of tourism in the necessitous mountainous areas. This can be proved by the following aspects: first, construction of the navigation channel will optimize the traffic facilities in the necessitous mountainous. At present there are not highways leading to most of the villages along the reaches of Beijiang River in the mountainous areas in the north of Guangdong. Traffic there is very inconvenient Constuction of the navigation channel wiU improve water transpomr making it possible to travel in the mountainous areas. Second, special towism items such as exploration in the valleys, drifting along rivers, leisurely sightseeing of agricultural activities and special competitive aquatic activities designed by all county or municipal governments must all depend on the riverdredging and optimization of conveyance system. Therefore, construction of the items for rectification of the navigation channel (including the Complex Programme on Lianjiang River ) is the basic premise of developing towist industry in the necessitous mountainous areas. Third, people from the tourist agency of Ymgde believe that once all lines of Lianjiang River are channeled, the 3 tourism centers of Qingyuan, Ymgde and Lianzhou will be formed. It will be advantageous to promotion of the fom-ing of the regional sightseeing of agricultural activities (such as like the Tea Fun Garden of Ymgde), sightseeing of folk customs and life of the minority nationaLites (such as the stockaded villages of the Yao people in Bibei, the stockaded villages of the Ziuwang people in Lianshan, folk customs and life of the Yao people in Nanshui, Ruyuan, etc). Therefore construction of the navigation channel is of great practical significance for promoting tourism business of sightseeing, folk customs and life of the minority nationalities, for encouraging regional consunption, enlivening economic activities as well as increasing job opportunities in the mountainous

areas.

Attachnmnt: Tourisn Resoumes in the Reaches of the Beijiang River

The tourism resources in the reaches of Beijiang River can basically be divided into 2 parts of the Shaoguan Section and the Qingyuan Section according to the upper reaches of (and the tributaries) and the middle reaches (and the tributaries). Of which part of the key scenes are located along the banks of Beijiang Briver, Lianjiang River and the close areas of their reaches. Some towns and villages in the scenic areas such as Jiulong, Mingjing, Yanbei, Daqiao, Wwnushui and Daping are all necessitous towns and villages in the north of Guangdong. The natural and cultural landscapes in Shaoguan are rich and various. There are famous mountains, famous temples, lava caves, tonrents, hot springs, primeval forest historical remains, stone inscriptions on the cliffs,

precious cultural relics and folk customs. Those that are open for visit include: Danxia Mountain - a national level scenic spot, Xiaokeng National Forest Park, the Nine Torrents & Eighteen Shoals -dhe first shifting river in

21 Chia, Nanhua Temple & Dajue Temple in Yunmnen Mountair-key temples in China, Lion Rock, a place where the skull of the Maba man was unearthed, Jinji Ridge -one of the eight top landscapes of Guangdong Province, the stockaded villages of the Yao people in Bibei, the wild animal hunting grounds along banks of Nanshui, etc. Over 10 lines for tourism have been opened. These places have become one of the tourist areas with most natual landwapes and most beautiful scenes. A tourist expert ofZhongshan University made a comment that the north of Guangdong had a complete collection of tourism scenery in south China and that it could be built as the largest tourism basis in south China. The tourism scenes being developed include: the Yunyang Stone Scenic Area in

Danxia Mountain, Nanling National Forest Park, Cheba Ridge - a national level conservation zone, Shaoshi Mountain, undergirud forest the highest peak of Guangdong, former residence of famous people of China, Nanhua Hot Spring Villa, etc. The main scenes and spots in Ymgde are: the Fenglin Passageway in the upper reaches of Xiniu Complex Project, shifting in Sukeng River, the five gorges of Lianjiang River, the folk customs and life of the Yao people in the south of Liannan County in the upper reaches of the Lianjiang River.

The Fenglin Passageway - located at the adjacent areas among three necessitous towns -Jiulong, Mingjing and Yanbei. The scenic area is over 20 km. long, composed of over 1,000 peaks of different shapes that are lined up together. In this area, the peaks are majestic with mountain sarams and rivers going around; amongst that are bamboo forest and farm houses, making it fuill of rich natural tastes and pastoral. When Prof. Chen Chuankang from the Geography Department of Beijing University took his students to conduct their on-the-spot observations and practice there, he called the place "the first peak scene in south China".

The Five Gorges of the Lianjiang River, Yangshan - When the Lianjiang River flows down from Dali Gorge in Yangshan, a necessitous county to the four gorges which are respectively called Longquan, Tongguan, Yangtiao, Zhennu (also named Lengjia ), the five gorges are all linked together. They are 50 1i (25 km) long and are called the Five Gorge of the Lianjiang River. Along the banks of the river here, farm houses are built up in stagger, peaks and series of mountains stand there facing each other. At each gorge there are different scenes with various shapes and poses, forming a vivid poetic painting. Since the Qin Dynasty the Yangshan Pass was set up. In XianlinG Mountain in the north of this pass, Han Yu, a very famous writer in the Tang Dynasty left stone inscriptions such as 'Eagles are hovering around while the fish is leaping out of the water ", "An example for thousands of rocks", etc on the cliffs at many sites. In the Song Dynasty Mi Fu, a very famous calligrapher and painter also left his original stone inscriptions such as "Just watch this mountain" in the mountain. Besides in the mountain there other things worth our attention: an ancient temple in the north, the stone reading table of Han Yu, the Relaxation Cave, Zhaoyang Cave, A Gleam of the Sky and Dazi Rock. In the north of Yangshan, Shikengkong Mountain, which is called 'the roof of Guangdong" is over 1,900 mneters above the sea level. It is the highest peak in Guangdong Province. In this mnountain cliffs are lofty and steep. Ridges of various shapes are lying everywhere. It is a national forest park in Guangdong Province. The customs and life of the Yao people in the south of Liannan. Liannan County is situated in the south of the Five Ridges (Yuecheng, Dupang, Mingzhu, Qitian and Dageng). It is a region in the north of Guangdong where the minority nationalities live in compact communities, connected with Hunan Province in the north and close to Guangxi Province in the west. It belongs to the

22 karst topography and is known as Little Guilin. The main scenes are: the stockaded villages in

Sanpai Yao people that represent the actual life the Yao nationality, Wanshanchaowang - a sacred place of international photographic salon, the campfire with rich local tastes and a

magnificent place - the Dongpo Underground Silk Way. The Bapai Yao people living in compact communities in the south of Liannan are the sole tribe of the Yao nationality in China They still retain their unique, simple and primitive national customns. Their life styles are varied and peculiar. Their dresses and personal adornments are colorful. They are very famous for their eamest, simplicity, enthusiasm and hospitality. The folk art of the Yao people is of unique charms. Whenever they have their festivals, the main prograrmes will be celebration of harvest, folk songs and dances such as the Shuagetang and Pangwangjfe Their songs and dances will be full of naturalist and heartiest fun and will echo long around in the mountains and valleys.

54 The programme construction will promote the construction of small towns in the mountainous areas and will attract surplus labour force to shift to small towns 5.41 The programme construction will optimize shipping facilities in small towns The construction of the programme will directly optimize the existing infrastructure in the small towns along the river. The regional third industries will be promoted a lot by construction of the navigation channel. Regional industries of transport, post & telecommunications, financing, insurance and cultural entertainment will also be developed.

5.42 The accumulative effect of logistics in small towns should be reinforced With improvement of shipping, it is probable that all kinds of specialized markets will be formed in small towns along the Beijiang River and the Lianjiang River. The markets will accumulate people and capital to increase service functions of these small towns, thus enabling the small towns to play an important role of accumulative effect We noticed in the investigation that a lot of towns and villages are working out their middle or long term plan of for their economic growth. All are expecting to build up relevant development zones, industrial zones, logistics and trade zones in areas along the river through improvement of the navigation channel of the Beijiang River and the Shipping Pivot Project of Lianjiang River to attract township and village industries and private enterprises to gather in the small towns so as to absorb foreign capital and to adjust the economic structure of the villages.

5.43 More labour force from the countryside will be attracted and adopted in small towns because of construction of the programme The construction of navigaton channel will stimulate development of small towns and will inevitably increase the attraction of them, encouraging urging a lot of the surplus labour force in the countryside and other related production factors to accumulate in small towns. In this way population in the necessitous limestone areas will actively move to towns in order , lessening the

23 problem of too much population and insufficient land. It will be good for agriculture to develop in a way of specialization, market and size. More than that, it will be better to form a general market of human resources for both the countryside and the town, helping the local governments adjust actively the employment policies, controlling the flow of rural population to towns by the market system. We noticed in the investigation that many towns and village committees have already worked out a plan to send out labour force with a hope that at least 1-2 people of each family move in order to towns nearby to increase the farmers' income by employment in towns and to reach the aim of eliminating poverty in the end. Aims of most towns and villages are to send out 30%-60% of their total labour force. If small towns are well developed, they will be the choice of this labour force.

5.44 A group of new small towns will arise out of consu-uction of the programme Representatives of Zhennan Village and Yuzui Vlflage thought that many villages close to the pivot would probably become the trading centers of the villages, taking advantage of the convenience of shipping and would become new towns with the accumulation of population and logistics. These villages would find a new kind of field for development to get rid of poverty. The number of small towns in Guangdong Province has inceased rapidly in recent years. As the traffic conditions were improved and they already played the role as a passageway for materials, quite a few small villages have gradually developed into small towns. Some towns along the Beijiang River and its tributaries such as Lianjiangkou, Lixi, Baitu and Hanguang,etc have developed a lot with the convenience of shipping.

5.5 The programme construction will promote local consumption and reform the local agricultural planting structure According to people from the traffic department of Shaoguan City, most of the towns and villages in the limestone areas in the north of Guangdong were all desolate and dull five years ago. There was hardly any industrial or business enterprises there, let alone public houses or hotels. Since the beginning of construction of the Pingru Highway and Gantang-Xiaogaotang Expressway , over 100 hotels and inns have been built up in the past few years. Their business is very busy. Officials of Ruyuan County and Lechang Municipal govmTunnts estinated that by 2001 the number of people engaged in businesses of hotels, food service and traffic had increased over three times compared with that in 1996. In some villages along the mads, over 50% the employment was from nonagricultural businesses in 2001, while that was about 20% in 1995. Many farmers began to plant vegetables one after another to meet the demand of the staffs of the road construcion. It is estimated that if each staff consumed 150 kg of vegetables a year, then a total of 15000 tons will be needed in all lines. If the average annual living cost is 6,000 yuan per capita, then total volume consumption of the staffs in all lines will be about 60,000,000 yuan. We can predict that the construction of Guangdong Inkm Rrver IV Prognunme wilU not only create a smooth, effective green passage for the necessitous areas, but alo strengthen greaty the consumption ability of farm and sideline products and daily goods along the lines, and

24 promote effectvely the local consurner markets.

5.6 Revenue of the local governments wiDl be increased after comnpletion of the programme construcion The progranme construcion will directly increase revenue of the local governments, enabling them to have more fund to invest in improvement of the local education, raising the quality of the farmers, etc. All of the above show that construction of this programme wil make the local traffic convenient, improve the investment environment, increase al kinds of social investment, create more job opportunities for all towns and vilages in the reaches, produce favourable conditons for the necessitous farmers to increase their income and reduce poverty in the mountainous areas.

6. Farmers' and township cadres' opinions about the programme and their significance for development

6.1 Degree of understanding about the programnies and opinions of fanmers who were involved in the requisition of land

By means of questionnaires - an evaluation survey of social influences, we know that 19.9% of the farmners who were involved in requisition of land knew very wel about the programmes. 55.8% knew a little bit while 24.3% did not know anything about them. Most viDlagers expressed their undemanding and support for the programmes. 58.6%of the farmers were in favour of the programmes while only 1.0%o were against therm 66.8% of the farmers believed that the programme constructon would be advantageous to the state; 36.1% thought that it would be good for their city to develop economy and reduce povaty; 292% thought that it would be advantageous to inproving the living standards of individuals; 19.4% said they were not sure of the purposes and significance of the programmes. About the would-be benefits, 415% of the farmers thought the programmes would bring them benefits; 6.6% thought nil; others said they were not sure whether it would bring them benefits or not About the would-be concrete benefits, 68.3% thought the programmes would make traffic more convenient; 36.4% said them would create job opportnities; 28.6% thought them would open new resources of income. On the whole most vilagers thought the programmes construction would be good to help relieve regional poverty and promote the social and economic growth in the countyside.

6.2 Attitudes of cadres from where the programme construction is located The research group conducted a survey of attitudes of the township and viDlages towards the programnme constnicton by means of personal interview and group interview in the areas where the programme constuction is located Most officials of the township goveriments and vilage cadres are in favour of the programme.s They hope that it would improve the local traffic conditions, optimize the local investment environment, attract investor, promote financing, create job opportunities for farmers and elimninate local poverty. Cadres of Xiaowan Village think that a lot of vegetables wiDl be demanded every day during the construction periods. Their village can provide the construction organizations with large awmunt of vegetables each year. Cash income of the viDagers can be increased. Xiniu Township Govermnent thinks after completion of the Xiniu Pivot Project they

25 can develop the area along the Lianjiang River to be small storages, develop shipping industry and convey cement manufactured in Ymgde City to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Cadres of Yuzui Village think as the reservoir area will flood part of their cultivated land, they hope the village comnittee would organize part of the surplus labour force in their village to take part in the construction while the project is going on. All cadres from both the towns and the villages think it a good opportunity to get rid of poverty. It will surely increase the job opportunities for farmers and raise family income.

7. Conclusion The Middle Reaches of the Beijiang River Regulation Works and the Xiniu Navigation Complex on the Liangjiang River are important strategic measures of development taken by the traffic systems of Guangdong Province to get rid of poverty in upper and the rmiddle reaches of Beijiang River. Investment in the projects will direcdy promote regional economic growth. Consturction of the programnes will stimulate regional consumption. change the agricultural structure in the.necessitous areas and reduce production and transport costs of township and village enterprises. After comnpletion of the programnes, tourism resources in the necessitous areas along the Beijiang River ard the Lianjiang River will be developed, making it possible the items such as knowing folk customs and life of the minority nationalities, participation of aquatic activities, explorafion in the mountains. Constuction of the navigation channel will also promote directly the functions of accumulation of people and logistics of the small towns along the river, encouraging a group of villages and countryside markets to become new small towns gradually; also it will improve the investment environment in the areas along the river. After completion of the programmes more nonagricultural job opportunities will be created for the surplus labour force in the countryside, urging population of the countryside to move out to small towns. Eventually income structure of farmers in the necessitous mountainous areas will be changed. Their cash income will be increased. The goal of poverty relief will be reached in this way. Therefore, benefits of the programme construction will be very obvious in development for poverty relief in the hinterlands of the Beijiang River-the of necessitous areas in the north of Guangdong.

26 Appendix I: Interview Syllabus about the Effect of Supporting the Poor VIA 1: I3~ R IMMMMWtBF

-Co

-m tHgMMMMMIgt*

tffiUntRfIW

RI%v8L§A'IkSg~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2 V44"ALLA1 VARLEX

=1 MR&AtXVA-2 AA\&RA FP n#f11AkqkA tk i:t)AV\A PA Skb

)XCcmzRA;tlffln #IrCRAt:

4WRM (tMM,3f) AU

§tttIJ _t@ E,R4t&i)5 HA"

T-twatFtAlJMA-Al T28E iL±tH gftPJ

28 195 Hg*-15MEX BS/Jxffi1A'flIU V12kafA MAEe

HSt:§Aut*Akt *f1fitit-2t Af-E*Y,f-

H !)TWAMkt) 2, t *tzR3

Q:L:Skg ) LAAYWI52

tW4+tRD4 ' tM ' ,&n SWtel

29 tKiMUITIRMts (,8f>W "A\" )

1,§it*O *rFl t,

2001

a3, Ctti~l a7k TiI

30