Gansu province 'beautifies' its roadways by walling in rural villages

Rural poverty in China’s northwest is anything but a new topic. But those who want to see it for themselves may find it increasingly hard as the government ramps up efforts to conceal it – literally.

Brick walls have been erected along the highways of Zhang county, located in Gansu province’s Dingxi City, to “hide” the “ugly” living conditions of villagers inhabiting the lands, the reported on Monday.

The walls, divided into individual sections each measuring two metres high, four metres long and encompassing 5 kilometres of road across the Zhang county badlands, began construction in October this year as a “poverty-alleviating, repair project”, according to villagers interviewed.

“This is supposed to be it,” said one villager surnamed Qi. If there was another poverty-alleviation project around, Qi hadn’t heard of it.

“We think the main purpose of this wall is to block the view of farmers’ ugly houses,” he added

Another villager said: “The officials told us they would help repair some of the villagers’ exterior walls but I’m sure it was just to block out the view of our pigs and chickens.”