Residents in Liuhe village, Juancheng county are on their way to prosperity after moving from the Yellow River's flood plain nearly two years ago.

Flooding used to be a major concern for people living on the plain between the Yellow River and its dikes, reducing crop yields and requiring costly repairs. Flooding could also result in people returning back into poverty.

An overview of Liuhe village in Juancheng, Heze, East China's Shandong province. [Photo by Shen Guangqing/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In Juancheng of Heze city, the Yellow River winds 52.5 kilometers and the river's flood plain covers 12.8 percent of the county's entire area.

In 2020, with local government efforts, 1,930 households in five villages left their homes in the floodplain and moved to the relocation site in Liuhe village, where lines of new houses were built on bases higher than the riverside plain.

According to local officials, farmers used to build bases one or two meters high on which they set their houses to avoid floods, but the bases were not high enough when big floods occurred. The new bases in Liuhe vary from 4 to 6 meters, high and solid enough to withstand floods.

"I lived on the banks of the Yellow River all my life. Over the decades, I had to rebuild my house every 10 years or so. I never dreamed that I could leave the floodplain and move into such a new building," Jiao Zhongcun, a 90-year-old, said. "Now, we no longer worry about the Yellow River flooding and everyone is satisfied with our life."

The local government has also helped build public facilities, such as workshops, kindergartens, community service centers and schools, as well as workshops to help farmers live better lives after they move.

A local craftswoman weaves a tiger pattern into a carpet at the workshop of Juancheng Yongming Carpet Co. [Photo by Liu Chuan/chinadaily.com.cn]

The carpet workshop of Juancheng Yongming Carpet Co, created by Yang Xiaoqiang, is one of them. Yang has been devoting himself to the techniques and design of handwoven patterns since he was 17 years old and also learned from Xie Xiangzhi, a second-generation inheritor of handmade wool carpet.

The wool weaving technique is a city-level intangible cultural heritage item in Heze, boasting a history of over 100 years and the handmade wool carpets are expensive due to the high labor costs and plant-based dyeing, according to Yang.

"The workshop has more than 30 employees, all of whom are residents of Liuhe or surrounding villages, most of whom have more than 10 or 20 years of experience," said Yang.

Yang also holds training sessions on making wool carpets to recruit talents for the company and to pass on the local intangible cultural heritage item to younger generations.