Change comes to Huaming

The turning point for Huaming came in 2006, when the Tianjin municipal government decided to initiate a policy of building homes for residents in exchange for their property in the rural areas just outside Tianjin. Huaming was the first area to be affected by this policy. Local farmers gave up their old properties for new apartments in Huaming; their old property is now used for farming or commercial uses. This policy made some of the farmers rich over night; some of the new properties are valued at over 400,000 yuan ($59,000) each, or nearly 10 times the value of their old homes.

The new Huaming town.

Huaming is made up of four zones; one is used for resettling the farmers, another is for commercial property development. The third is used for office leasing, and the last is reserved for agricultural production. Statistics show that dividing the area in this way has saved nearly 1,500 acres of farmland. An official from the country's top economic planning group, the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out that this has served as an excellent example for other developing communities in terms of land use, especially since market demand for property has recently skyrocketed.

The new Huaming town.

Income from the commercial development of the area is used to pay for social insurance for the resettled residents as well as to subsidize construction projects and pay for job training programs for farmers seeking new employment. This, according to some officials, has effectively addressed three of the biggest problems in China's urbanization process: land use, capital and reemployment of resettled residents.

Farmers' old properties are now used for farming.