Xishui is now one of the most beautiful counties in Guizhou province, but it hasn't always looked like this.

The county's picture postcard villages and clear rivers are all a result of the huge investment Guizhou province has made in environmental protection and poverty relief during the last five years.

According to one villager in Xishui county, in the past, the houses there were shabby and dirty. The pollution was everywhere and there was no one to control and manage this.

Since 2013, the local government has launched a plan to curb pollution and rebuild dilapidated buildings in counties across Guizhou. The conditions have all changed.

Not only are the roads in the county now wide and flat, the government has renovated the toilets and kitchens in many of the villagers' homes too.

Xishui county has built lots of centralized solid waste treatment centers to clean up the villagers' trash.

Actually, Xishui is not the only one of the counties benefiting from Guizhou's modernization program. According to statistics, Guizhou has invested more than 180 billion yuan ($27.2 billion) in renovation works for the program so far.

The government has created different plans for different counties according to the environment and natural resources of each one. In March, Guizhou approved the modification works plan to build more beautiful counties, which is designed to improve living, working and travelling in Guizhou by 2020.

This picture shows Huamao county in Zunyi, Guizhou province in September 9, 2017. The rise of rural tourism has helped raise income levels in the county significantly in recent years. [Photo by Zhu Wei / Xinhua]