Poverty alleviation measures in Bulenggou have involved the state creating jobs for people
CHEN JUNQING/XINHUA/ALAMY.
The mountainous Muslim village on the edge of the Tibetan plateau had no running water and no hard road. Villagers spent four hours a day fetching water with donkeys. That was eight years ago.
Now, all of Bulenggou’s 62 families have moved into a new settlement of government-built courtyard homes, each with running water.
To whom should these villagers in the arid Chinese region of southern Gansu give thanks for this upgrade in their fortunes? The centrepiece of every courtyard is a tap. A back panel carries two lines painted in red: “Don't forget President Xi when drinking water; Forever be grateful to the Communist Party.”
There are no pictures of the Dalai Lama to be seen. Their living rooms carry portraits of Communist leaders. Despite their Tibetan ethnicity, the residents of this settlement have Han Chinese names
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