Bright new life for Baiku Yao People in S China's Guangxi

Aerial photo taken on April 28, 2020 shows a view of a poverty-relief relocation site for the Baiku Yao People in Nandan County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. [Photo by Cao Yiming/Xinhua]

Known as "living fossils of human civilization", Baiku Yao People have embraced a bright new life.

Nandan county is located in the northwestern part of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, at the southern edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. It covers an area of 3,916 square kilometers that belongs to a subtropical zone enjoying a humid and hot monsoon climate. The county boasts an abundance of mineral, forest, water and tourist resources.

Nandan county is also widely known for the Baiku Yao People, or the White-Pants Yao People, an ethnic minority known for their white-colored pants. The minority has kept its culture intact, and is known as "living fossils of human civilization".

Many of the Baiku Yao People used to live in the bare rock mountains, with poor transport infrastructure and rare education resources, keeping them in poverty for years.

In 2017, the county government started a resettlement project that involved a total of 1.37 billion yuan ($193 million) of investment to build three major resettling residential districts in the county to accommodate the Baiku Yao people, with about 13,500 people relocated. Most of those living in the mountains moved into the county center, beginning a new phase of their lives.

Aerial photo taken on April 28, 2020 shows a view of a poverty-relief relocation site for the Baiku Yao People in Nandan county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo by Cao Yiming/Xinhua]

Aerial photo taken on April 29, 2020 shows a view of a poverty-relief relocation site for the Baiku Yao People in Nandan county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo by Cao Yiming/Xinhua]

Aerial photo taken on April 28, 2020 shows a view of a poverty-relief relocation site for the Baiku Yao People in Nandan county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo by Cao Yiming/Xinhua]

Aerial photo taken on April 30, 2020 shows a view of Tonggong village in Nandan county, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo by Cao Yiming/Xinhua]