Villagers in Xinjiang's Desert Town Reluctant to Move Despite Harsh Living Conditions

A state program to resettle residents from impoverished villages adjacent to northwest China’s Taklamakan Desert to nearby cities has become a hard choice for some of those who are reluctant in changing their habitual way of life.

45 year-old Zibidehan Subi is a Uygur housewife living in Darya Boyi, a lonely, sparsely populated oasis located deep in the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The village is home to 300 families, all are ethnic Uyghurs.

Subi has been living in a wooden house since she got married at 15. She says the biggest change in the village is the number of vehicles.

"We enjoy living a nomadic life. But the children are elsewhere, so we need to go to see them. Otherwise, we don't have to leave the village," said Subi.

Ali Abdulla, her youngest son, goes to school in the Yutian county seat, some 250 kilometers away.

Gathering tree roots for cooking fuel is an traditional survival skill, as Darya Boyi is cut off from the outside world, and modern conveniences.

However, the old ways of living are changing among local youngsters. Ali says one question has always been in his mind, when can he leave the desert?

"I want to take good care of my parents when I get a good job in the future,” said Ali Abdulla.

Villagers have survived in the Taklamakan for 400 years. However, the drying up of the Keriya River, and the encroaching sands have resulted in 50 families moving to the government-built resettlement houses on the outskirts of Yutian County.

Another 100 low-income families, including Zibidehan’s family, are expected to join them by 2018.

For her husband Abdulla Qasimu, living in a desert is neither bad nor good.

"I have no skills other than herding. If I'm being relocated out of here, I can hardly make a living,” said Qasimu.

With inadequate water supplies, farming is not an option for Darya Boyi villagers. Many residents, especially the youngsters, say that relocation would be the easiest and quickest way to end their struggle in poverty.

Old villagers like Zibidehan say they want to stay in Darya Boyi and remain their habitual way of life.

"We would love to live an easy life till we die. Conditions are harsh, but that’s the life of nomads. Allah made me a herdswoman; that’s my life. It just like the five fingers cannot be the same; life is what you make of it,” said Zibidehan. More on:http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20161010...

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