CHENGDU, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Early in the morning, when the first rays of sunshine peeked through the door cracks into his dim room, Mou'se Dati got up, swept the ashes in the cooking fireplace, stepped out of the yard and locked the gate.

Taking a final glance at the century-old house where he was born and grew up,  Mou'se, along with his wife, headed to their new home 65 km away down the cliff.

Mou'se Dati and his wife go down the steel ladder to leave Atulieer village and move to their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Mou'se, 51, is from the village of Atulieer atop a cliff in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province. His family is among the 84 registered poor households of the village that were relocated to the county seat of Zhaojue.

In the old clifftop house, the family photos of Mou'se and the certificates of merit of his daughter still hang on the wall. The house will be preserved and reinforced as a tourism facility.

Mou'se Dati and his wife call relatives on the balcony of their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Combo photo shows Mou'se Dati and his wife posing for a photo in front of their house at Atulieer village in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020 (up) and Mou'se Dati and his wife waving on the balcony of their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County on May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Some 18,000 impoverished residents from 92 villages moved to their new homes at a newly-built community at the county seat this week, the largest poverty alleviation relocation project in Sichuan.

Mou'se Achang and his wife Ale Quzuo with their son go down the steel ladder to leave Atulieer village and move to their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Villagers go down the steel ladder to leave Atulieer village and move to their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Villagers go down the mountain with luggage to leave Atulieer village and move to their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

A villager goes down the steel ladder to leave Atulieer village and move to their new home at a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

Villagers take a selfie on the steel ladder at Atulieer village in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)

As part of the government efforts to eliminate absolute poverty by 2020, China plans to relocate nearly 10 million poor residents from remote barren and disaster-prone areas to more habitable places between 2016 and 2020.

Over the past four years, China has relocated 9.3 million poor rural residents to more inhabitable areas, 9.2 million of whom were later lifted out of poverty, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, said in March.

Aerial photo taken on May 13, 2020 shows a newly-built community for poverty alleviation relocation in Zhaojue County, southwest China's Sichuan Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Hongjing)■