Dorje's families are happy with their new life in Quxu county. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Dawa from Sanyou village now works in a cooperative that raises chicken and earns about 1,500 yuan per month.

"Each of my family members can also get 300 to 400 yuan as bonuses from a cooperative every month. Our life has been improving," he says.

The cooperative divides its profit each year, with 30 percent used as working capital and a management fund, 10 percent for charity and the other rest 60 as dividends for the villagers.

Speaking about the changes, Mao Xin, head of the township where Sanyou village is situated, says: "Poverty alleviation through agricultural industrialization and government's assistance to the villagers to start their own businesses have helped the villagers come out of poverty."

"We are trying to develop more industrial branches based on old ones, and will promote our products, such as organic chicken in areas outside Tibet."

In the past, the village's present residents, who belong to the Han, Tibetan and Hui communities, were scattered in 10 different villages, most of which were remote and prone to natural disasters including landslides. They had an average income of less than 2,800 yuan a year.