When Zhou Baohua, a migrant worker in Shanghai, left for her village in Sichuan a month ago she was worried about where she would stay. The 51-year-old's house was razed to the ground in the May 12 earthquake.

But when she reached Maoershi, her village, Zhou was pleasantly surprised.

She was taken to Leigu town in Beichuan county, three hours' drive from the provincial capital of Chengdu, where a two-story building - her new home - awaited her.

Zhou is not the only one. The government has provided brand new houses in Leigu, the province's first model spot for countryside resettlement, for almost 300 other villagers, who lost their homes in the quake.

Nearly all 300 villagers, who belong to the Qiang ethnic group, have been given two-storey houses, ranging between 90 sq m and 180 sq m, depending on the number of family members.

Zhou couldn't have asked for more. "I am extremely happy the government did this for us. I now have such a nice and comfortable home," said Zhou standing in front of her new 150-sq-m house.

According to the secretary of village committee Zhang Anqing, the resettlement project started in July.

The money for the houses came from government subsidies and bank loans while some of it was self-raised, he said.

Based on the degree of poverty, each family was given subsidies between 16,000 (US$2,400) and 26,000 yuan, and they could take bank loans to a limit of 50,000 yuan.

The newly settled village in Leigu has immersed in the New Year spirit. Red lanterns and antithetical couplets are everywhere. The villagers managed to gather bunches of corn and hung them up on walls, wishing for good luck.

Zhou is satisfied with her two-bedroom house. But the only electrical appliance she has in it is a refrigerator, which her husband Lin Yuping salvaged from their collapsed home. Zhou and Lin said they will prepare homemade cured meat, a traditional dish, for the guests during the festival.

Lin said he had to slaughter a pig he rescued from the ruins of the quake to make the cured meat. "Even now, I still feel guilty about it," the 57-year-old said.

"I hope more tourists visit our village, so I can find a job here. I don't want to leave this beautiful house and go back to Shanghai to work," Zhou said.

(China Daily January 23, 2009)