Cliff-top village residents are set to move out

84 households in Sichuan province to settle in new apartments in county seat 75 km away

Eighty-two households in the cliff-top village of Atuleer in Sichuan province's Zhaoje county were preparing on Monday to move to new apartments in the county seat as part of the nation's poverty relief program.

"The government has bought new furniture for each of the households in their new homes. We only need to take clothes and quilts there," Mou'se Subure, a young villager of the Yi ethnic group, said of Tuesday's planned relocation.

The village, atop a 1,400-meter cliff, garnered nationwide attention in 2016 when a Chinese newspaper published a collection of photos featuring students scaling the cliff via an 800-meter zigzag network of rattan (palm stem) ladders with no railings－their only link to the outside world.

Villagers used the ladders to reach the nearest market several kilometers away once a week to sell pepper and walnuts, and to buy necessities.

Soon, the governments in Zhaojue and the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture spent 1 million yuan ($141 million) to add a steel ladder with a handrail that has cut travel time to the nearest town from three hours to one.

Now, adding the two that already moved, a total of 84 households－a majority of the villagers－will settle in five residential quarters in the county seat 75 km away. The members of two households were so excited about their new homes that they moved on Monday, one day ahead of schedule, said Ahke Jiushe, an information officer of the county government.

The relocated villagers will live in new apartments that have kitchens and toilets with running water.

"We used to live in adobe (clay) houses and have never seen such nice apartments near schools and hospitals," Mou'se said.

The 84 households have very limited means, with an annual per capita income of about 3,000 yuan.

The new apartments come in models of 50, 75 and 100 square meters, which will be assigned depending on the number of people in the household, said Ahke Jiushe, an information officer with the county government. One person is entitled to 25 sq m, he said.

The cost to own the apartments is 2,500 yuan per person－a family of four would pay 10,000 yuan to own an apartment of 100 square meters. The market price per square meter of housing in the county seat ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 yuan, he added.

The villagers are benefiting from the government's tailored poverty relief policies.

Three years ago, the village caught the attention of President Xi Jinping. In a discussion with National People's Congress deputies from Sichuan in 2017, he said he had been worried when he learned from a television report that the Atuleer villagers were dependent on the rattan structure.

Xi told the delegates the entire process of poverty reduction required tailored relief policies and precision measures, and sometimes patience and accuracy such as "doing embroidery".

After the village became famous, tourists flocked to see the rattan ladders, and some tried to climb them.

After the 84 households move, Atuleer will see new tourism development. A cable car will be installed to transport tourists to the village and nearby canyons will be developed, the county government said.

Some 30 better-off households will remain in the village and work in the tourist industry, running rural inns, showing tourists around and carrying bags to make money, Ahke said.