-- On market days, 47-year-old Yang Anshun's barbershop is always full. The space is so small that customers waiting for their turn often end up on the steps outside, chatting until a chair is free.
The county's largest high school was built near the relocated community in Congjiang county. CHINA DAILY
In Guandong township, Guizhou province, the streets are packed with people. Villagers fine-tune their Dong pipa – a traditional lute – stalls overflow with seasonal vegetables and fresh meat, and rows of ethnic clothing hang on display.
His shop is in Guiyun, the largest relocation community in Congjiang county.
Neat apartment blocks line the area, alongside public squares, leisure facilities and the town's biggest market. The residents come from villages scattered across the county, many of them from steep mountain areas with winding roads and barren land.
"Back home, my wooden house was dark and damp. My family kept cattle in one part and lived in the other," Yang said with a smile. "When officials came to check whether our family qualified for relocation, they only needed one look to see that we were struggling."
In 2019, his family was approved for relocation because of their difficult living conditions, and local authorities arranged a three-bedroom apartment for them in Guiyun.
He lives there with his wife and three children. Schools and kindergartens are nearby, and last year the county's largest high school was also moved to near the community.
He runs two barbershops in the area and owns two mobile barber carts converted from three-wheel vehicles. Yang said he makes about 4,000 yuan a month. "I have to stay busy, and I run a few small businesses," he said. "I charge only 10 yuan because I know it is not easy for everyone to earn money."
This year, he paid for his eldest daughter to study beauty and hairstyling in Guiyang, the provincial capital, hoping that one day she will open her own shop.
Leaving poor conditions
Peng Jinbin, director of the provincial ecological migration bureau, said Guizhou carried out the country's largest relocation campaign. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, the province moved 1.92 million people, about 16.4 percent of the national total, with 95.3 percent of them resettled in urban areas.
Congjiang lies in southern Guizhou, on the border with the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. More than 90 percent of its land is mountainous, with elevation differences of up to 700 and 800 meters. Many villages are isolated, difficult to reach and built on barren land.
"We have Miao, Dong and Zhuang communities among six ethnic groups here, and people came from 20 townships across the county," said Wu Jinke, secretary of the community Party branch.
"Because many residents had poor living conditions back home, construction began around 2018. By 2019, all 1,608 apartments had been assigned, and the occupancy rate is now basically 100 percent," he explained.
Guiyun has become a kind of super community. According to local authorities, it covers about 16.73 hectares and has resettled 6,625 people. The community has two kindergartens and one primary school, while the county's largest high school is within 1 km.
For many villagers, however, leaving their old home does not mean letting go of the land. The fields they kept in their hometowns still give them a sense of comfort, especially because relatives continue to farm them.
Still in the hills
In Danyang village of Qingyun township, the county seat is 80 minutes away via a rough mountain road.
According to village officials, Danyang now has 112 households, after 27 moved away. Most of the young people who remain go outside the village for work, while others grow medicinal herbs such as Uncaria and isatis root.
"I actually envy those who moved to the city," said Shi Qibiao, one of the villagers who stayed behind. "They have new houses and it is easier to see a doctor. But I am old now and have grown used to village life."
For elderly villagers who stayed behind, the local government also provides public welfare jobs such as forest patrollers, road maintenance workers and cleaners. Shi Qibiao, for example, works as a forest ranger and receives a yearly subsidy of 10,000 yuan.
Building new futures
Wu said relocation is not the end of the story.
Nearly seven years after it began, the real challenge lies not only in providing physical dwellings, but in helping villagers build stable livelihoods and adjust to new ways of life.
Yaoyu is a popular traditional bathing practice that involves dissolving herbal medicines in hot water, and is believed to have health benefits. It has also been developed into an industry that local officials say is being modernized to create jobs.
By 2025, the area planted with herbs used for Yaoyu bath products had reached 43,000 mu, with 47 processing companies and an industrial output value exceeding 150 million yuan.
The company's owner said hiring became much easier after villagers moved into the nearby community. Some mothers stay home to care for their children, while older residents want work close to home. The factory has created more than 300 jobs.
Even so, Wu said employment remains one of the most pressing issues for relocated communities. With a weak industrial base and limited local opportunities, many residents still choose to work outside the county.
"Most still go out to work," Wu said. "Those who stay local are mostly employed in industrial parks or in the market."
At the community market, many stalls are reserved for relocated households. Women sell vegetables and rice noodles, while others run grocery stores and breakfast shops. On market days, the street fills with people.
Vendors call out, children laugh, and electric scooters whiz past the stalls. For many relocated families, these ordinary sights and sounds are gradually replacing the silence of the deep mountains they once called home.
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