"While giving priority to projects involving people's livelihoods," said Qin, "we emphasized to convert the 'transfusion' (relief-oriented) aid into the building of 'blood-producing' projects with the funds, with a hope that the new construction will be able to bring in real benefits."

With more autonomy to allocate funds, the county government decided to adjust the restoration plan by cutting off some small tourism projects after careful consideration. Together with savings from an office building project for the county government, Jiange was able to pool funds of 500 million yuan ($77 million) to develop the Jianmenguan tourism project.

The new fund allocation system provided local residents more flexibility to develop projects in need. Private investment not only brought more capital and more effectively allocated resources, but also increased local incomes.

"The government mainly focuses on projects concerning people's livelihoods and should encourage enterprises to take the lead for other projects under the market mechanism," commented Qin. "It is important for the government to work hard on infrastructure and offer policy support to attract more social resources."