Poverty rates among local ethnic people dropped from 86.2 percent in 1982 to 7.7 percent in 2000.

Ethnic minority groups account for 9.3 percent of the provincial population and inhabit 38 percent of the province's total land space. Many live in regions vulnerable to natural disasters such as drought, hailstorms, agricultural diseases and insects.

In the last 20 years, Gansu has poured 2.3 billion yuan (US$278 million) into poverty eradication in areas inhabited by ethnic minority people. This accounts for 17.7 percent of the total used in the province to eliminate poverty.

The money spent was mainly used to help ethnic minority people construct water conservancy and power facilities, water supply projects for domestic animals and local residents, and construction of farmland.

As a result, irrigated farmland in the 12 counties inhabited by ethnic minorities has expanded from 20,000 hectares in 1982 to 54,000 hectares by the end of 2000.

And the terraced field acreage in the 12 counties has grown from 16,000 hectares to more than 93,000 hectares in the same period.

Thanks to the construction of a large group of water projects, 1 million people and 5 million domestic animals now have access to safe drinking water. And a dozen hydropower plants constructed in the last 20 years now provide enough electricity for daily use and local farmers' needs.

Apart from infrastructure construction, Gansu Province also has helped ethnic minorities develop a series of special industries with ethnic characteristics.

(China Daily January 15, 2002)