Better prospects

Yikoudao native Zhu Aiyong believes the relocation to Tongren offers a better future for his children than working as a migrant outside of Guizhou.

The 37-year-old returned from the wealthier province of Jiangsu when he learned of the project.

His wife is pregnant with their fifth child.

"The village socially pressured us to have a son," Zhu Aiyong said of his wife's pregnancy.

"We don't actually want more kids because of financial strain. I wouldn't have tried to have another child in the hope it may be a boy if I'd known we'd move to the city."

He opened a roast fish restaurant near Xiangtanglong more than a month ago after leaving to work outside the province in 1999.

Zhu Aiyong dropped out of his first year of high school to support the family.

His father was a migrant worker. His mother raised him and his siblings.

"School costs money. I left so I could earn money," he said.

"It's a pity. I wish I could've learned more so I could have a better future. I won't let that happen to my kids."

Zhu Aiyong recalled he had to quit a production line job at a Coca-Cola plant in Guangdong province because he could not use a computer.

"It was my first time using a computer," he said. "I trained for a month. But it was still too difficult for me."

Working as a migrant expanded his worldview, he said.

"Villagers just wake up and farm. All of life is agriculture. They don't know anything else," he said. Two of his daughters, ages 5 and 13, are in Tongren, but two others are still in the village in the care of their grandparents.

"I hope to bring them to the city," he said. "I want them to have a better education than I had. I hope they will have a better life and enjoy opportunities I've never dreamed of."